Winner - Maurice Flanagan
Award sponsor - Airline Business
When Emirates was launched in October 1985, founding managing director Maurice Flanagan could hardly have imagined how far the start-up Gulf carrier would travel.
Less than two decades ago, Emirates started out with just $10 million from the Dubai government and two Boeing 727s. Today it has grown into a $3.6 billion business with 66 widebody aircraft in service and a further 96 on order, including 45 Airbus A380s.
The carrier continues to average annual traffic growth in the region of 20-30% and has doubled in size roughly every four years. But more important is the fact that Flanagan and the team have managed this spectacular growth while staying financially and operationally sound throughout.
Flanagan himself has been at the helm from the outset, alongside chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the younger brother of the late ruler of Dubai. Such solidity in the turbulent airline world is rare indeed.
Flanagan's own Middle East story began in 1977 when he was British Airways assistant general sales manager in the emirate. At that time BA was asked by the Dubai government to supply a director for DNATA, its travel and airport handling business.
"I threw my hat into the ring and got the job, expecting to be in Dubai for a couple of years," says Flanagan, whose title at Emirates is now vice-chairman and group president.
Seven years later, the government set Flanagan the challenge of launching Emirates and he has never looked back.
"Given the character of the ownership, our exceptional chairman Sheikh Ahmed, the high quality of the management and staff we have been able to assemble, no, I have not been astonished at our success," he says.
Running Emirates is a job Flanagan says he has never been tempted to leave, although there have been offers. And it is not hard to see why Dubai has been so compelling. Emirates has the total support of a government determined to develop Dubai as a global tourist and business destination.
"Dubai itself is a city-state unique in the sustained pace of its development, and perfectly located to be a global hub," says Flanagan.
Emirates has sometimes been accused of benefiting from unfair government aid. But Flanagan says any subsidies began and ended with its formation and, more importantly, the government opted for an open skies policy. This freedom has allowed Emirates to operate profitably and fund its own expansion. As Flanagan points out, the group's last loss was in 1986, and return on capital employed is over 30%.
With the industry reeling from the shocks of the past few years, Emirates has defied gravity by sustaining its profitability and continuing to invest.
Flanagan sums up the secret to this success in four words: "Ownership, chairman, team, Dubai."
Now 75 years old, Flanagan admits that he has benefited from a culture which equates age with wisdom.
"In Europe, I would be regarded as well past my sell-by date, but happily Arabs take a different view of these things," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
