You know Emirates by now, even if you’re not much of a traveller. The Gulf airline has poured a tonne of money into global sporting sponsorships in the past decade: you can see its logo on everything from Australian Open tennis courts to Collingwood guernseys, from America’s Cup sails to golf tournament signage, from Arsenal shirts to Arsenal’s stadium.
The red and white logo is instantly recognisable at this point, a familiar and – I’m sure the airline hopes – pleasing presence during our favourite events.
This is part of a patient marketing campaign from Emirates, and one that has been very successful. The idea of flying through the Middle East was once intimidating, and probably off-putting.
This is a region with a serious PR problem, one that only ever tends to appear in the news when bad things have happened. Could you trust an airline from that part of the world? From a little country you have barely even heard of?
And yet we do trust Emirates, as well as its Middle Eastern brethren Qatar Airways and Etihad, partly because of that global PR campaign that familiarised us with the brands and caused us to associate them with the things we love, but also because these are just really good airlines.
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It only takes one or two flights to realise that. Flying with Emirates is a pleasure compared with many of its Asian, European or Australian rivals. It’s comfortable, it’s professional and it’s often conducted on Airbus A380s, which are objectively the greatest planes that have ever existed (don’t “at” me).
Qatar is the same: the Doha-based carrier has either been at the top, or very close to the top, of the Skytrax World Airline Awards list for many years now – and although Etihad isn’t quite as well regarded, it’s still an excellent, dependable airline.
We have come to trust these carriers. We like these carriers. They’re also phenomenally popular, even though the price point is usually a little above some of their lesser rivals.
According to the aviation data firm Cirium, between them, Qatar, Emirates and Etihad carry one in every two passengers travelling from Australia and the South Pacific to Europe. And about 227 million people flew to, from or through the Middle East last year, and Dubai International was the world’s busiest airport for international passengers – sure signs that the PR problem just doesn’t exist any more.
Only, it does. Now. Because the veneer has fallen from cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. “It’s not meant to be happening here,” a Dubai-based influencer now infamously said as she watched missiles fly through the sky just a little over a month ago.
They will offer the one thing that many well-established Asian carriers and even the US carriers don’t, and that is affordability.
But those missiles did fly, and continued to, and they could again at any time depending on where we’re at with this fragile ceasefire. All of a sudden these modern Middle Eastern citadels, with their carefully curated reputations for stability and safety, don’t seem so stable and safe.
So what is going to happen to Emirates, to Qatar, to Etihad? Right now the airlines are taking a big hit, shelling out money in refunds to passengers who no longer want to fly.
In their defence, they have been good with that, though some Traveller readers have reported difficulties: Etihad impossible to contact after a flight cancellation; Emirates’ policy of only cancelling entire bookings rather than affected sectors.
For the most part, though, the Middle Eastern carriers have been doing well to engender goodwill with their customers during what must be a nightmare scenario for them, as passenger numbers dwindle and long-term reputation is tarnished.
So how do they bounce back? This war will end, permanently, at some point in the future. The Middle Eastern hubs will no longer be the sort of danger zones where airports can be closed with very little notice during an attack.
But bad memories can linger, and the likes of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar will have to do something to re-establish themselves, to get back to that figure of half of all passengers between Australia and Europe.
My opinion? They’ll do it through airfares. Cheap airfares. They will offer the one thing many well-established Asian carriers and even the US carriers don’t, and that is affordability.
Because it’s brutal out there right now if you’re trying to fly long-haul. When oil prices go up, competition comes down and demand is stable, the inevitable response is higher airfares from Australia to the northern hemisphere.
The Middle Eastern carriers can very quickly re-establish themselves in the market with well-priced airfares. Niggling safety worries tend to suddenly be put into perspective when you can fly to Europe for less than $2000 on one of the world’s best airlines.
Sponsorships will continue, of course. The PR campaign will roll on. You’ll still see logos on football jerseys and tennis courts. But more than anything else, reasonable airfares are the way back into travellers’ hearts. And we’re ready to be wooed.
Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.
