2018
EMIRATES PROJECT REPORT
WE WERE ASSIGNED A PROJECT TO ANALYZE THE APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER IN ANY SPECIFIC BUSSINESS, ITS LIMITATIONS AND OUR RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COMPANY.
SUBMITTED BY: MUHAMMAD SAMEER ANSER
Executive Summary:
Emirates is an airline based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is wholly owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest airline in the Middle East, operating over 3,600 flights per week from its hub at Dubai International Airport, to more than 140 cities in 81 countries across six continents. Cargo activities are undertaken by Emirates SkyCargo. Emirates is the world's fourth largest airline in scheduled revenue passenger-kilometers flown, the fourth-largest in terms of international passengers carried, and the second-largest in terms of freight tonne kilometers flown. From March 2016 to February 2017 Emirates had the longest non-stop commercial flight from Dubai to Auckland.
Emirates operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing wide-body aircraft and is one of the few airlines to operate an all-wide-body aircraft fleet (while excluding Emirates Executive. As of November 2017, Emirates is the largest Airbus A380 operator with 103 aircraft in service and a further 42 on order. Since its introduction, the Airbus A380 has become an integral part of the Emirates fleet, especially on long-haul high-traffic routes. Emirates is also the world's largest Boeing 777 operator with 151 aircraft in service. Emirates has diversified into related industries and sectors, including airport services, engineering, catering, and tour operator operations. Emirates has seven subsidiaries and its parent company has more than 50.The company employed a total of 38,797 staff at the end of the fiscal year on 31 March 2011.Its parent company, The Emirates Group, employed a total of 50,000 employees of which 10,785 were cabin crew, 2,237 were flight deck crew, 1,904 were in engineering, and 9,084 were listed as other. We were assigned a project to analyze the applications of computer, its limitations, and our recommendations to any specific business company.. We have chosen Emirates airlines to analyze computer applications and its limitations in the company. Emirates is a multinational airline operating in 81 countries of the world. Computers are comprehensively used in airlines for performing various functions such as managing flight operations, booking tickets, issuing boarding passes, maintaining the record of passengers and staff.. Apart from that computers
play an important role in aircraft operations, technologies such as navigation system, Auto Pilot System (APS) etc. are because of computers... In this report we will try to cover applications of computer in Emirates, its limitations and our recommendations on how the company can improve in the field of computers.
Introduction to Emirates:
Emirates Airlines started its journey in 1985 with very few resources to carry out its operation but as a result of continuously improving efforts and fast growth, Emirates Airlines has been in the sky for more than 24 years. Being the largest carrier in the UAE, also extending its hands into KSA the Emirates Airlines has been ranked as the largest carrier in Middle East and was reported in 2008 to be the 7th largest in the world on the basis of International passenger traffic. It has won over 400 awards for excellence worldwide. Emirates Airlines enjoys a network of fleets connecting over 60 countries in about 100 destinations worldwide with as much as 10000 crew staff. Emirates Airline is considered a major airline in the Middle East. It operates approximately 2,200 flights weekly across Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. Its headquarters are conveniently located in Dubai where most of it flights are coordinated. Emirates Airline is also known to operate one of the longest flights in the world. Emirates Airline is part of the Emirates Group. The airline is owned by the Dubai government, one of the countries within the United Arab Emirates group. The Emirates Airline was established in 1985 following the collapse of the Gulf Air. The firm faces several hurdles in the airline market including the entry of new airlines which threaten to slice its market share into several facets. Emirates Airline has operated its airlines in the Asian region for the past 23 years, earning a good reputation and winning many flight and airline awards. The Emirates Airline commands up to 39% of the market share . Emirates Airline has been largely successful due to its competitive pricing strategies that it uses successfully against its competitors. The company has maintained a world class flight operation as well as introduced cheaper long haul flights that are highly profitable. The airline has experienced the largest growth in the Asian airlines market. The company's long haul flight services have threatened to dominate Singapore Airlines due to the adverse nature of Singapore Airlines to introduce flights into the 'risk' prone areas of the Middle East. Long haul flights have proven not only to be fuel efficient but also
time saving for the passengers who have found more efficiency as they can be able to do other activities after their flights The trend of considering the internet market also shows cases new opportunities for the company. Threats. Rival companies are major threats to the business. Emirates Airline, in contrast, started out in other lines of business and entered and airline capabilities of the company. The firm’s inability to keep up with innovations, or recognize its demand, creates a threat for them, a risk that they could be displaced by other industry leaders. The legal and political environment in the countries where they operate in could potentially affect the business negatively. Their apparent complacence could be used by their rival companies to their advantage, and take Emirates Airline by surprise, with the latter realizing too late that they are not the industry leader anymore
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN EMIRATES: Modern air travel would be impossible without computers. Ticket sales, pilot training, flight operations and aircraft design all depend heavily on computers and software. In Emirates, many different systems interact in order to ensure that planes stay on schedule and that they fly safely. Nearly all of these systems rely on computers to some degree. Computers are involved in everything from the passenger's initial travel arrangements to the functioning of an airport and the airplanes that fly into it. Emirates is a multinational airline operating in 81 countries around the world .Computers are used to perform various functions.. Some of them are as follows .
1) Ticket Sales: Emirates Offices are equipped with computers to book and issue tickets to their passengers. Emirates operate to more than 140 cities. Passengers buy tickets for travelling to any other city or country. Due to the advancement in technology , now it is possible to buy a ticket even without visiting airline’s office. Passengers can purchase their ticket online by using computers through Emirates official website or their application available for every smartphone. Without Computers, it would have been impossible to issue tickets to thousands of passengers travelling on emirates from different countries per day.
2) Flight Operations: Emirates Airline operates over 3600 flights per week from its hub at Dubai International Airport. Computers are comprehensively used to manage the flight operations of the airline. They are used to keep a record of daily flight schedules . By using computers, they keep a record of the flights that have landed and those that took off for any other airport. It helps the run their airline efficiently abd keep their passengers informed about the status of their flight.
3) Flight Planning: Flight planning is the process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraft flight. Flight planning is an example of using computer in Direct Aviation related to Emirates airline operations. Flight Officers use computers for their flight plan, a big flight plan just complete in half an hour with the help of computers. Without computers it might take up to 45 hours. Computerized flight planning is fuel efficient, while manually is not. Computerized flight planning system is able to provide the most cost and time effective RAD compliant route.
4) Booking Tickets: When someone book a flight, regardless of the method, their reservation information is processed and stored by the Emirates computer system. If someone book this online, their registration information is directly stored with the company. If they book their flight over the phone, a customer service representative will enter this information for you. This computer-based reservation system allows the passengers to easily modify travel arrangements at any airport.
5) Managing Finances: Emirates is one of the most profitable airlines of the world . It earns about 2.2 billion dollars per year. Computers allow the higher authorities of Emirates to manage their finances, keep a record of investment made and return they got on investment. It helps them decide that how
much they can spend to improve their fleets and how much they need to save as a backup. Computers are used to save the yearly financial reports of the airline. It also helps them in managing the salaries of their employees according to their grades.
6) ROLE OF COMPUTERS IN HR FUNCTIONS OF THE AIRLINE: The HR function consists of pursuing existing employee data which traditionally includes personal records, skills, abilities, activities and salary. To reduce the manual workload of these administrative activities, organizations began to electronically automate many of these processes by introducing specialized human resource management systems. HR executives rely on internal or external IT professionals to develop and maintain an integrated Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Human resource management systems facilitated gradually advanced administrative control of such systems. Other human resources functions such as recruitment, hiring, performance appraisals, compensation, benefits administration and training can all be done without paper.
USES OF COMPUTERS IN HR DEPARTMENT OF EMIRATES Payroll - Payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries, wages, bonuses and deductions for an employee . The payroll management module has the basic task of automating the pay process in an organization. The outstanding benefit of Payroll Management System is its easy implementation. The Payroll Management System deals with the financial aspects of employee's salary, allowances, deductions, gross pay, net pay etc. and generation of pay slips for a specific period. It has the following benefits that are briefly enlisted below: - Manage Employee Information Efficiently. - Define the emoluments, deductions, leave etc. - Generate Pay-Slips - Generate and Manage the Payroll Processes according to the Salary Structure assigned to the employee. - Generation of reports related to employees and their tasks. -
7) Air Traffic Control: ATC uses Computers for perfect and accurate direction, handle all landing, takeoff and ground traffic from tower with the help of computers. As an aircraft travels through a given airspace division, it is monitored by the one or more air traffic controllers responsible for that division. The controllers monitor this plane and give instructions to the pilot. As the plane leaves that
airspace division and enters another, the air traffic controller passes it off to the controllers responsible for the new airspace division, just with technology and computers. Computers software are crucial to an airport’s air traffic control services. While the communication between air traffic controllers and pilots occurs through radio, the system by which this communication is synthesized with radar and weather data is based on computers. Computers alow air traffic controllers to visualize and track the location of planes in the air, and then instruct pilots as to the correct course of action.\
8) Onboard Entertainment System: Onboard entertainment system is a perfect use of computer during flight. Emirates offer different entertainment facilities to make their costumers facilitated with technology. WiFi service onboard for passengers is also an example of advance computer and technology system. Emirates has been winning the award of ‘Best In Flight Entertainment System’ for last 14 years. Emirates is providing almost every sort of on flight entertainment including movies, music, cartoons, documentaries and live channels. All new fleets of emirates are equipped with the most powerful Wifi Technology , providing fast internet at thousands of miles above ground.
9) Baggage Handling: Emirates use Computers to generate a special tag for handling the luggage of their passengers . That tag carries a barcode and the details of the passenger which helps the airport staff to handle the luggage and transfer it to the mentioned aircraft.
10) Issuing Boarding Passes: Emirates Airline counter at every airport around the world uses computers to issue boarding passes to the passengers travelling on their airline . Boarding passes are mandatory for entering the aircrafts . Without Boarding Pass no one is allowed to travel on the aircraft. Number os passengers travelling on a flight depends on the size of fleet but most aircrafts carry more than 350 passengers . Computers are used to issue them boarding passes within a short span of time whereas without computers it would have been impossible to issue a boarding pass to each and every passenger in written form.
11)
Online Services:
Emirates airline has its own website and application to facilitate their passengers. Their website is providing following benefits to its passengers:
Now anyone can purchase their ticket online
Complete flight schedules are available on their webpage and can be accessed by using computers .
Seat Allocation: Passengers travelling on Emirates can choose the seat in the aircraft of their choice. For example if they want to sit on the seat adjacent to window , they can choose it themselves by logging in on their webpage.
What’s on your flight: This service helps the passengers to check what sort of entertainment facilities are available on their flight. It provides them complete details of each and every program that will be available on the inflight entertainment sytem on their booked flight.
Flight Status: This facility available on Emirates webpage helps its passengers to check the current status of their flight . This option becomes available 24 hours before takeoff of the flight. By this facility, passengers can keep a check on the status of the aircraft whether there is any delay or not. This facility also helps the family, friends etc of the passengers who are waiting for the passenger at the destination . By this facility they can check the live position of the aircraft .
Chauffeur-drive: Now it is possible for the passengers travelling on Emirates Airlines to book a Chauffeur drive service for themselves at the destination even before taking off from the origin. This have become possible because of the use of computers .
Executive Lounges: Passengers travelling on Emirates having a transit at any airport while travelling to their destination can book an executive lounge for them before leaving the origin so that they don’t have to spend transit hours by sitting on the uncomfortable seats of the airport.
12)
Plane Mechanics
An airplane depends on computers for a number of essential flight functions. The autopilot, which all emirates airplanes are equipped with, frequently employs a computer. This relieves the pilots of many in-flight tasks, allowing the plane to process navigational data and flight control systems. Computerized "fly-by-wire" technology, which many airplanes have,
transmits pilot or autopilot signals to a computer. This allows planes to respond to subtle atmospheric variables and make other adjustments easily. Additionally, Emirates airplanes have wing flaps that can be controlled by a computer. . They have power systems that can be regulated by computer. Finally, computers are central to the efficient communication and recording of an airplane's flight data. Such data is vital to air traffic controllers, and greatly assists in the event of an emergency situation.
13)
Computer Aided Design:
Computers have influenced every sphere of our life in one way or other. Computers are making human life easier and comfortable. Computers are helping to design, analyse and manufacture the product with short span of time. One such application is Computer Aided Design . It is comprehensively being used in Emirates airlines for designing their airplanes designs. Emirates Airlines uses CAD technology to create computer models defined by geometrical parameters . These models typically appear on a computer monitor as a three dimensional representation . CAD system enable Emirates airplane designers to view objects under a wide variety of representations and test these objects by simulating real world conditions. Designers use CAD to make a 3D representation of the airplane according to the interest of the company.
Limitations of Computers in Emirates: 1) Skilled Workforce: Usage of computer requires skilled workforce .. Now , Company hires only those people who are skilled enough to operate computers and who are familiar with the growing technology. Secondly, Skilled Workforce demands high wages which increases the expenditures of the company . An Airline Company is fully equipped with Computers and that’s why they hire only those people who have great computer skills . 2) Startup Expenses: The invention of computer has reduced labor force in every company but has given rise to the overall expenses of the company . Emirates airlines have their offices in 81 countries and every office is fully equipped with Computers. Computers provide numerous advantages but the initial setup cost is really high and it effects the overall expenses of the airline.
3) System Breakdown: Computers are used to issue tickets and boarding passes to its passengers. If there is a software glitch or the system breakdown. There is a need of a computer expert to solve the issue and it requires time, in the meantime , the flight operations are affected a lot because of this thing and many times it causes flights to get delayed. A website that crashes is no good to anyone. This is a serious disadvantage for the company. If Emirates website is constantly crashing or unavailable then people will not be able to find information about it and could miss out on potential sales. An unreliable connection could also mean a plummet in a websites search engine ranking. This is the reason why You Need Good Webhosting For Your Business.
4) Heavy Reliance: Many businesses rely so heavily on computers that a power loss or system crash can prove devastating. Valuable files may be lost, sometimes permanently, which can have long-term implications if the files were not backed up with paper or other methods. A customer service-oriented business that depends on being able to provide prompt and reliable responses to customer inquiries can also find itself at a severe disadvantage if it loses computer access. Emirates airlines can face a major setback if their airlines software faces any glitch and stops working. In this case, it might take time in order to bring the software in the working condition again and in the meantime the airline services won’t be able to run smoothly.
5) Dangers of Hacking
Emirates airlines use computers to store sensitive customer information, such as credit card numbers, addresses etc. If a hacker successfully breaks into a business's computer system, he can use the information to drain personal information or run up charges on credit cards. At best, this can create a public relations nightmare for the company. At worst, it can make the company susceptible to legal action, especially if it did not implement effective security measures.
6) Online Cyber Crimes:
Emirates airline has its own website which allows people to purchase their tickets online. In order to purchase online ticket , they are required to insert their personal information such as name, passport number, CNIC number, address etc. Hackers can hack the website and misuse this confidential information of people. Apart from that people are required to give their credit card number in order to purchase the ticket online , which provide hackers the best opportunity to use their credit card details for making different purchases without the consent of card holder.
7) Negative Feedback: Negative feedback is more common online. Customers find it easy to post criticisms regarding airline on the airline’s . Inside Business 360 indicated that the potential that a damaging message goes viral is a major risk online. When people share negative brand messages on Twitter or Facebook, the potential for viral sharing of gossip and complaints is a real threat. Apart from that, the competitors of Emirates airline also cash this opportunity and spread negative things regarding emirates on social media and emirates website in order to defame Emirates airline. Feedbacks from people is both beneficial and harmful for the airline. 8) Overdependence of Aircrafts on Computers: Computers are making airline pilots more obsolete. Today , aircrafts are fully dependent on computers. Almost all functions of the aircraft highly depend on computers. Computers might be better then human beings in most situations but overdependence on computers can cause major setbacks to the aircraft and the airline. Now, most aircrafts are equipped with Auto Pilot System (APS) . This technology has relieved the pilots from taking control of the aircraft for whole flight. However this technology has provided a lot of benefits and has made the job of pilots more easier , but it has caused a decrease in productivity . Now, pilots take control of the aircraft pnly at the time of takeoff and landing, rest of the time the aircraft is functioning on Auto Pilot System(APS) . It has decreased productivity as pilots bring their skills in use only for takeoff and landing and remining flight is controlled by APS system . Other few issues an aircraft could face due to overdependence on computers are as follows:
Security: Terrorists can hack into the aircraft signals (and take over planes much easier)
Electrical Failures: One thing that people haven’t accounted for is an electrical failure. Currently, if an electrical failure happens in an aircraft, the pilot will take over and go through the electrical failuire emergency checklist, if the aircraft is automated, and an electrical failure occurs, you lose everything, and the aircraft crashes because there is no one physically flying . This alone is a major issue when it comes to fully autonomous aircraft
Recommendations: Usage of Computers in an airline carries advantages as well as disadvantages . Advantages always enhance the overall image of the company, but disadvantages can cause a major setback to the airlines. Emirates should try to focus on those factors that can create a negative impact of their company .. Some of those factors are as follows:
Reduce Unemployment: Emirates should provide Computer training to their current employees instead of firing them and hiring those who have computer skills but lack working experience.
Emirates should allow their travelers to book their ticket online without nserting their credit card number , so that the traveler can visit the airline’s office to make the payment and get the hard copy of their ticket. This will reduce hacking and misuse of travelers credit card number by hackers.
Reduce Dependence of Computers : Overdependence on Computers can prove harmful for the airline. In case of system breakdown , flight operations can suffer a lot . Airline should hire skilled workers who have the ability to handle passengers and operations in case of computer system breakdown. Sometimes, In case of system breakdown , it becomes necessary for the ground staff to issue boarding passes manually to the passengers travelling to different destinations to keep flight operation undisturbed .
Telephonic Reservation: Booking tickets by calling Emirates airline office should be promoted . In this way the personal details of the traveler will remain confidential between the airline and the person himself and in this way hackers wont be able to misuse personal details of the traveler and they wont be able to harm airline’s image.
Less Reliance on Auto Pilot System: Pilots should try to be more productive and they should try to take control of the flight for more time instead of just for take off and landing . In this way , they will get more experience and if there is an electrical failure
or the APS System stops working due to system failure , they will have the ability to control the plane during whole flight and land it safely at the destination.
CONCLUSION
This report is regarding Emirates airlines specifically focusing on Applications of Computer in Emirates , how almost every function of an airlines heavily depend on computers. Usage of Computer in every company has advantages as well as some disadvantages. We tried to cover both in this report. Emirates is a multinational airline operating in all six regions of the world . Modern air travel would be impossible without computers. Computers are important in following operations of an airline
Ticket Sales
Flight Operations
Flight Planning
Airport Services
Air Traffic Control Services
Onboard entertainment system
Online System
Computer Aided Design
Computer Aided Management
HR Department
Aircraft Functions
In-flight Entertainment System
Not only airlines offices are equipped with offices but even aircrafts are fully equipped with computer and computer related technology e.g Navigation, Radar, Auto Pilot System (APS) etc. Emirates have adopted:
Online Ticket Sales
Online Check In
Computerized Flight Operations
Online Flight Status
Computer Simulation Training
Because of these adoptions, Emirates have become one of the leading airline companies of the world. Usage of computers have provided the airline a lot of benefits but there are some limitations of computers which can harm the airline. Some of them are as follows:
Requirement of Skilled Workforce
Startup Expenses
Loss of time in case of System Breakdown
Relying too much on computers
Increase in unemployment because of computers
Risk of confidential information getting leaked
Usage of computers provide numerous advantages to the airline but relying too much on computers can harm the airline in some matters. Computers requires a person to be skilled and because of this reason the airline hire only those people who are skilled enough to use computers and as a result , those people who are qualified but are not able to use computers are removed from the company. Or in some cases company provides its employees special training of computers and it is costly which affects the overall expenses of the airline. Secondly, Initial setup cost is really high and the advancement of technology with the passage of time requires the computer systems to be upgraded with time.. These all things also effect the finances of the airline. The main drawback is to rely too much on computers. People are becoming more lazier and are depending a lot on computers rather than working hard themselves. In every business , Usage of Computer carries advantages as well as disadvantages. But in this modern era, a multinational airline cant operate without computers and not only airline offices but even Aircraft functions are totally dependent on computers.