Dubai: Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of Dubai-based flydubai, pushes back into the soft Italian leather upholstery, with a seat pitch of 42 inches, of the newly fitted business class seats in the airline he manages, and stabs at the air in front of him to underscore a point.
‘’If u take a picture of Dubai and its adjacent countries and cities and compare that picture to an image of Boston and look for airlinks to the areas that surround it, what do you think you will find? Will there be more arrows emanating out of Boston, or Dubai?’’
The answer, according to Al Ghaith, is the former.
“The point I am trying to make here is the region that we live in still doesn’t have enough flights serving the neighbouring areas. This is because we are not one country. There are different countries, different rules and regulations and visas that need to be obtained in order to do business. But when you look at it from an opportunity point of view then the cup isn’t even half full. In short, the potential is there.”
Al Ghaith then offers the obvious solution for connectivity.
“I feel an airline like flydubai is required to fill that gap and connect our country to adjacent countries.”
Flydubai, according to Al Ghaith has “found its groove right now. We have always been aggressive. Look at our statement of intent,” he emphasised, “before selling even one ticket we bought more than 15 aircraft. We knew we were off to something big. I think what is happening now is that the potential has been realised. We fly to more than 65 destinations and this is significant. We have fulfilled what this airline was intended to be.”
Flight FZ727 touched down in Ukraine’s Zhulyany International Airport on Wednesday and also commenced operations to the southern city of Odessa, with flights twice a week. The airline now operates to four destinations in Ukraine and 66 destinations across its network. For Al Ghaith, the emphasis is now about fixing the little things for the convenience and comfort of the passenger as the airline continues to make profits and connect the dots between Dubai and any station which is less than six hours away from it.
With flydubai it is all about the business class seats that are getting trialled on select flights. They also have a state-of-the art inflight entertainment system, with a high-definition 12.1 inch touchscreen and a choice of internationally inspired menus and refreshments to boast about. The trims will come in a selection of brand new aircraft which, when delivered, will include business and economy class seats, while existing aircraft will be retrofitted to include the premium option.
Clearly there are no limits because just as one boundary is crossed, another goal is immediately set. ‘’These are significant parts of the product that we are engaged in,’’ stated Al Ghaith. ‘’It is something that we have been doing for the last two years. As far as a limit is concerned, in terms of size, if you can make 50 aircraft possible then 100 aircraft is not unreachable.
‘’In all our endeavours, however, we must remember that everything about our success relates to Dubai with all its platforms – the government, business, environment and our attractions … everything about our success must be about Dubai. So when you prop up your goals to that level then the sky is the limit in the area that we serve.
‘’Aviation is an integral part of the fabric of the business culture of our country. As a hub for services and people one has to depend on aviation and transportation. There is a big gap here — we have people from 200 plus nationalities living in a country, that offers them a choice of growth and prosperity and this will attract more people to come here. Where else can you have that but Dubai? Therefore, our focus is clear: it has to do with developing more attractions and by covering the countries that are not well covered. Kiev, in this case, is a classic example. With this flight and the flight that we will launch on our way back we will have 28 flights in a week. This is significant.’’
Al Ghaith sees Dubai as a global brand and his job clearly is to leverage this brand equity in his industry. He, quite logically, refers to the brand as Dubai Inc. “When we look at servicing this potential, we look at tourism and business links. People from Dubai will travel to Ukraine now,’’ he says. Ukraine is a popular destination both for tourism and for medical treatment. As far as the potential for growth is concerned I say that flydubai mirrors what Dubai is all about: to become better than anybody else. This is in our DNA, which is why we keep innovating and challenging the conventions when it comes to travel. We don’t keep any aircraft for more than eight years. This policy keeps our planes efficient. Our product enhancements are cost and fuel effective. We introduced an entertainment system to make money, but we also factored in the cost of fuel into the use of that system in order to help us break even. Our TV sets run on fibre optic technology and this burns less fuel. We also have two servers as back up. We look at finite costs and we are ruthless about numbers.’’
Al Ghaith is now parking his thoughts on the runway to the future. Should Dubai win their bid for hosting Expo 2020 it would be a landmark seven year run up to the event itself and the future thereafter. This means unlimited possibilities for flydubai.
“Seriously,’’ he said, “If there is one bit of fairness in this world then Dubai should win the bid. The Expo should be held permanently in Dubai and not just once,’’ he said forcefully. “It will be a statement of intent and a recognition of what we have proudly, as all nations, come together to create this beautiful country and what we have achieved. From there we can launch beyond.’’
