Etihad takes off on Hogan fuel

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James Hogan is a meticulous man in both word and deed. His structured speech echoed the sense of methodical planning that goes into attaining a competitive edge in the now crowded aviation market of the Middle East. Entitled, ‘How to Market an Airline', his talk invited a more scientific approach to the subject of marketing.

According to Hogan, air travel is projected to grow by 5.1% from 2007-2011, with the biggest growth being in the (already burgeoning) Middle East. This growth brings with it certain difficulties, especially with the emergence of new no-frills airline, new technologies, macroeconomic changes and environmental concerns.

"The challenge that my team have is how we build a new age airline. How we enter a business that is in fact determined as one of the most competitive. How we develop our own footprint when we have here in Dubai one of the most successful airlines in the world and in Doha another global airline, in Qatar Airways, being established," he announced.

One strategy that he delineates is to build Abu Dhabi and the cities of the Gulf into strong stopover points for long-haul travellers: "How do we build this air bridge between East and West? How do we take advantage of globalisation to build a prominent stopover destination compared with the other regions of the world?" he asked. The answer, according to Hogan, is to listen to and cater for the customer carefully: "We have to be very flexible to be able to move and adjust our business accordingly." The customer is becoming a more difficult creature to define as well. "There's no longer a single stereotype passenger. The segmentation is huge." Furthermore, he told the conference that, "The customer is becoming more demanding and savvy. They will say what they think." This makes strategising a process of trend guessing which requires market research.

"We spend considerable time looking at the global competition. What is their message? What is their segmentation? What are they doing with their customer that's different?" Hogan says. He believes that differentiating your service from that of the competition is crucial to winning customers. "We determined that it's understanding our competitors but endeavouring to break new ground in service," he added.

To be able to concentrate on customer service, Etihad strip their operations down to the bare essentials. He said, "If we can outsource our engineering, outsource our CRM, outsource our IT, [we can] focus on the customer."

Hogan's professional background has brought him to this considered opinion: "My background is airlines, the hotel sector and the car rental sector and the key element of all those industries, especially in car rental and hotels, was the customer." Establishing a business strategy centred on customer wants and needs is the way Etihad have sought to create a strong product. This brings a corresponding need for strong brand building. According to Hogan, engaging the customer is essential for success.

"We're using sponsorships, events, to project the Etihad brand and its service and building our CRM programmes to engage with our customer."

The next task is to keep momentum going as they move forward. Etihad intends to tap into the patriotism of the airline's home city: "The challenge for us is how to ensure that we capture the dynamic spirit of Abu Dhabi. And we're going to be building on that as we move forward."

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