EMIRATES NEWS
DEPARTMENT FOCUS ON AVERAGE FOR EVERY MINUTE THAT passes another two people join the Emirates’ frequent flyer programme – Skywards. To put that into perspective, if an Emirates flight from Dubai to London Heathrow is seven hours long, then during that flight approximately 840 people will have joined Skywards. “That is quite a statistic when you think that when we started it took us four years to get our first million members,” says Brian LaBelle, the Senior Vice President of Skywards, “at present we have over six million members.” The Skywards programme, which started in 2000, was created to build on the loyalty of Emirates customers. The scheme found that by developing information of its members they were able to tailor to needs and gain an understanding of who was flying on the airline. Over the decade the aviation industry has progressed substantially, leading Skywards to revamp and update their programme in January 2010. “We looked at the trends, and wanted to further reward those individuals that were giving us more value,” says Kashmira Motiwalla, Skyward’s Manager of Product Development. “Our members were requesting one-way rewards and the more flexible tiers – which we gave them – with our period of earning points now stretched over a 13 month period that takes into account the member’s busiest time of year,” he added.
Our members were requesting one-way rewards and the more flexible tiers – which we gave them
For the relaunch the programme initiated its award-winning Mile Accelerator. This addition gives its members an 11-month foresight of flights in which they can earn extra miles. The process requires some very careful internal coordination within Emirates as it helps direct the traffic onto flights where there are less loads, freeing up seats on the busier flights. Last year’s relaunch also brought with it the Skywards Future Arts Competition. “We were looking for something fresh and innovative that would catch the imagination of our members,” says Motiwalla. “We decided that every year
our members should chose the winning entry of the art work to be displayed on their card.” The competition is open to artist all over the world - giving the winner the opportunity to gain global exposure. For its inaugural edition last year, the competition saw over 3,000 entries and 56,000 votes cast by Skywards members. The winning entry receives a commission of $5000, and gets to exhibit at Art Dubai (held in March) and have their entry on the cards as well as their names. And if the success of Skywards is anything to go by then that would be gaining two more fans every minute.
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