The Emirates has entered the burgeoning Pakistan market not as much to make money but to open up the country for the frequent travellers and entrepreneurs looking for gainful investments in Pakistan. This is how Emirates' affable Vice-President for Pakistan Adnan Kazim looks at the Emirates operations to and from Pakistan. A graduate in accounting from Al-Ain University, UAE, who came to Pakistan in 2004, Adnan heads Emirates, the world's fastest growing intercontinental airline and one of the world's five most profitable and among the 20 largest airlines.
Based in Dubai, one of the few cities in the world that pursue an open skies policy with more than 110 airlines flying in and out of the Sheikhdom in free and fair competition, Emirate flies to 78 cities in 55 countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa, Indian sub-continent and Asia Pacific.
In an hour-long interview, which encompassed topical issues, Adnan was candid but discreet in responding to questions that haunt the local airline industry.
"Freedoms" of air, the jargon used in aviation parlance relating to carrying of passengers between the countries, fake bookings, no shows and last but not the least the growth of the Emirates as the world class carrier were the topics for the day.
It is not only the Emirates but almost all the airlines face the problem of holding of seats on fake bookings by the travel agents. Incidentally Adnan's first encounter was on this issue with the travel agents.
At a meeting, convened some time back by the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (Taap) here, he minced no words to tell them that they were responsible for holding seats in fake names, which resulted in no shows, causing financial losses to the airlines.
He minced no words in calling spade a spade and showed no restraint in highlighting the problem. His comments were well taken.
Touching on the "freedom" of air issue, he said: "It is our endeavour to not only bring in potential investors, but also to carry Pakistani merchandise to all corners of the world, fast and at reasonable rates.
"We want to open up Pakistan to the world by offering convenient connections to and from Pakistan," he added.
No single airline in the world could handle the traffic and meet diversified interests of the travelling public, Adnan said, adding the airlines joined hands under arrangements to meet those requirements to satisfy the discerning traveller.
"We believe in fair competition and this has been the hallmark of the Emirates which now proudly stands alongside quality carriers of the world," he claimed.
Adnan said in view of the development works being undertaken in Dubai, there was a lot of movement of workforce between Dubai and Pakistan. Similarly, entrepreneurs from Dubai were making huge investments in Pakistan's projects, he added.
To cater to the movement of workforce, the businessmen and expatriates between the two countries, it was necessary that the air services were made available to them at reasonable rates and at convenient time, he said.
The Emirates had become the choice of the travellers because it met their requirements and was competing fairly in the market, he added.
Adnan said the Emirates was a commercial venture and not dependent on the government support, adding it had maintained the high quality of service and its product was the second to none, which made the airline a choicest carrier.
Dispelling the impression that the Emirates was cutting into the traffic of other airlines, he said in fact it was extending a supportive hand to the airlines and travellers by transporting them to points where other airlines did not operate.
Adnan said that Emirates had approached concerned authorities here for increase in the frequency of its services from northern points to Dubai in view of high demand, while necessary permission was still awaited.
At this point, he came back to the subject of fake bookings and blocking of seats in bogus names by the travel agents, which resulted in no shows, and said the malice, which was rampant until a few months back, caused huge financial losses to the airline, but now it had been contained to a very large extent.
In the case of the Emirates, no shows until last year were as high as 75 percent, which had now been brought down to 10 percent, he said, adding that this had been achieved because of close monitoring of the travel agents.
About 60 travel agents, both International Air Transport Association (IATA) and non-IATA approved agents had been delisted by the airline for blocking the seats in fake names.
This has had a salutary effect on the errant travel agents, who has now become cautious in their dealings.
"We issue warning letters to the travel agents, who defy the rules and if they show no improvement, they will be banned and lose Emirates business, he said.
Finally, this is what Adnan Kazim had to say about the Emirates. Financially self-sustained and unprotected, Emirates carried 10.4 million passengers in the 2003-04 financial year - almost two million more than the year before - and declared a record 429 million dollars profit, an increase of 73.5 per cent over the previous year, on revenue of 3.6 billion dollars - nearly one billion dollar more, or 37 percent better than the year before.
The airline announced the largest order in commercial aviation history at the 2003 Paris air show, when it added 71 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft worth 19 billion dollars to its order book, which now stands at 97 aircraft worth 30 billion dollars at list prices.
The airline was the launch carrier for the new ultra long haul, A 340-500, which started service on December 1, 2003 on the Sydney route.
It was also the first airline to order the revolutionary A 380-800 double-decker and will be the main launch carrier for the innovative A 340-600 HGW. With 45 A 380s on order, which it will start receiving in 2006, the Emirates is the largest customer of the Airbus super-jumbo, with one full third of the firm orders placed for it.
As Emirates Group Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum put it: "The A 380 is an ambitious aircraft that meets our ambitious growth strategy. Every single one of the A-380s, we have ordered, has been carefully planned for and supports present and future network needs.
"It will play a significant part in our expansion in a way that no other aircraft could."
The Emirates presents a good example for the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, to emulate its growth. May be it could perform better in case it is not subjected to official interference in its day to day working and all sorts of bureaucratic pressures, which make things difficult for those who run its affairs.
The PIA needs to be run on purely commercial lines and considerations for better results and the high quality performance.
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