This report first appeared in Gulf Marketing Review's May 2008 issue.

The Coverage

Four airlines were monitored in March 2008; Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia and NasAir. Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways represent the big airlines in the UAE, while Air Arabia and NasAir represent the low-cost budget airlines.

Etihad Airways had the biggest number of mentions, followed by Emirates Airline, Air Arabia and finally NasAir. Etihad Airways also had the highest Real Advertising Value Equivalence (RAVE) achieved, followed by Emirates Airline, Air Arabia and finally NasAir. The same trend applies for the impressions and coverage size, although Emirates Airline’ impressions almost equaled that of Etihad Airways’.

The content analysis of the coverage reveals that Etihad Airways takes the lead once more. In terms of message types, Etihad Airways’ manifest (direct) messages represent 96% of the entire coverage, while Emirates Airline’ manifest mentions make up 90% of its coverage, 74% for Air Arabia and 95.5% for NasAir.

98% of Etihad Airways’ messages were resultant from press releases, while 76.7% of Emirates Airline’ were press releases, 71.6% for Air Arabia and 95.5% for NasAir. As for the reputation drivers, 94.4% of Etihad Airways’ mentions were positive reputation drivers and 0.9% were negative. 79.8% of Emirates Airline’ were positive reputation drivers and 1% negative drivers. 71.6% of Air Arabia were positive reputation drivers and 1.4% were negative. Finally, 95.4% of NasAir were positive reputation drivers, while it had no negative reputation drivers at all.

All airlines penetrated a big number of varied messages, but certain messages for each are worth highlighting in retrospect of their impact on attracting customers, particularly for tourism.

Etihad Airways added a number of new destinations, such as to the former Soviet Union, Singapore and Beijing. It also added a feature where clients can follow up on shipments, extended chauffeur service to Toronto customers, launched the 2nd phase of global TV advertising campaign, plans to scrap paper tickets and have them replaced with e-tickets, organized the Milan Fashion Week, partnered up with Prime Limousine, signed deal with German travel agencies and tourism companies, teamed up to work on travel exhibitions, used tactics like hedging to avoid peak prices, sponsored the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival, All-Ireland Hurling Championship, Ferrari and Gaelic Athletics Association. Etihad Holidays also plans to inaugurate a new branch. Etihad has been described as a contributor to the promotion of tourism in the UAE and received good reviews. Etihad Airways was also listed as one of the top brands in the region.

Emirates Airline messages included its new daily trips to German cities, Houston, Cape Town and Shanghai. Emirates Airline was listed as one of the top brands as well as received a number of good reviews. Emirates Airline became member of the GCC Association of Advertisers, helped promote tourism in the UAE, plans to soon allow mobile phones to work on board, launched promotional campaigns such as the skyward miles promotion and sponsored AC Milan, the African Open Championship and the Dubai World Cup.

Air Arabia added routes to Istanbul, Bangladesh and Kozhikode. Air Arabia received good reviews and was nominated for the best 1st class service in the world by Business Traveler (USA). Air Arabia opened a sales shop in Kazakhstan.

NasAir signed a deal with Safar Travel to represent in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, received good reviews, is mulling over launching 12 International destinations. NasAir is to offer flights to Sharah.

Survey Findings

The UAE and Saudi markets were asked, ‘Which of the following are your favorite airlines when booking for a vacation’ to a sample size of 448 in the UAE and a sample size of 718 in the Saudi market. Emirates Airline ranked 1st, followed by Etihad Airways and Air Arabia equally in the overall UAE market. Emiratis placed Emirates Airline on the lead, followed by Etihad Airways, followed by Air Arabia. As for Arab Expats, they also placed Emirates Airline on the lead, followed by Air Arabia and Etihad Airways. Westerners placed Emirates on the lead, followed by Etihad Airways, while Air Arabia fell far behind. Finally, Asians places Emirates on the lead as well, followed by Air Arabia, then Etihad Airways. Interestingly, NasAir was not recognized at all.

There seems to be a relationship between age and preference for some of the airlines in the UAE when thinking of booking a vacation. The higher the age, the less Etihad Airways scored. There was no relationship between age and preference for Emirates Airline and Air Arabia. However, it is worthy to note that 40-49 year olds had a substantially higher preference for Air Arabia than any other age group.

The higher the income, the less Air Arabia ranked. The same applied for Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways with the exception of those with incomes of $8,000 and higher, which can easily be attributed to the fact that low-mid income individuals prefer budget airlines while high-income individuals prefer Emirates and Etihad.

Interestingly, double the number of males showed preference for Etihad Airways than females did, while slightly more females than males showed preference for Emirates Airline and Air Arabia.

The overall Saudi market placed Emirates Airline in the lead, followed by NasAir, followed by Etihad Airways and finally Air Arabia. Saudis also placed Emirates in the lead, followed by NasAir, then followed equally by Etihad Airways and Air Arabia. Finally, expatriates placed Emirates Airline in the lead, followed by NasAir, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia.

In terms of age correlation, the higher the age, the higher the preference is for Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways. However, age does not seem to be a factor for NasAir. As for Air Arabia, ‘40 and above’ age groups showed significantly less preference.

The higher the income the less the preference is for Etihad Airways, with an exception of those under the ‘$5,333 - $7,999’, which displayed the highest preference for Etihad Airways. There seems to be no relationship between income and preference for Emirates Airline, Air Arabia or NasAir.

More males showed preference for Etihad Airways and NasAir, while significantly more males showed preference for Emirates Airline. As for Air Arabia, males and females were almost equal.

Conclusion

Evident by the media coverage and the survey findings, Etihad ranked 1st in the terms of the media coverage yet ranked 2nd in some of the categories in the UAE survey and 3rd in the Saudi survey. This can be attributed to the fact that Etihad Airways is relatively new. The older generations are more conservative and are not quick to switch. Etihad Airways is a rising star and they are doing everything correctly. They are even outdoing Emirates Airline when it comes to PR regionally.

Emirates Airline on the other hand ranked 2nd in their media coverage performance, while it ranked 1st in the survey results for both the UAE and Saudi markets. This can be explained by the fact that Emirates Airline have been there for a long awhile. They are respected, well known and a benchmark to the other airlines.

Air Arabia and NasAir are only preferred due to their low-costs, but their PR activities are minimal and their tourism contribution is virtually non existent. They only need to add more destinations and maintain their low costs to continue posting profits. NasAir needs to advertise as well as boost its PR activities outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Etihad Airways should continue their current PR activities, while boosting their advertising. Evident from the findings, they could use attracting more female customers., particularly in the UAE. Emirates Airline needs to maintain its position while boosting their PR activities, as they are beginning to face competition from Etihad Airways; the rising star.