Airlines are companies that provide different services to passengers and travellers around the world; they offer tickets and plan trips to different people all the time. Airlines rent their planes or buy them in order to supply their passengers with the top services they can offer. Usually, before they are established airline companies must get recognized by their governments first. Different airlines differ in the different routes their planes take and the different services they offer. The airline industry first started in 1909 and from then on it developed immensely especially during the last decade or more. The top and best airlines in the Middle East are Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Gulf Air.
Aviation Innovation through Technology:
Technology participated in the development of the airline industry ever since it first started in 1909. The first ever reservation system, that is considered the core of the current system, dates back all the way to the early 1960s. At first, the reservation systems for airlines were only available in airline companies only. However, currently and after the technological revolution that the world has been going through the past couple of years, reservations became available online through airline companies website. A traveler can now simply enter an airline company`s website and just easily reserve a seat in a flight that he likes without the need to go down to any office or travel agency anywhere.
Best Middle East Airlines:
1- Qatar Airways Airline:
Qatar airways, it was first established in 1994, started at first as a regional airline then expanded in 1997. From the day of its expansion the company developed to add a lot of destinations to its network and went on to become one of the fastest growing aviation companies in the world. It developed from a regional airline to an airline with more than 140 destinations in the world including a lot of European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
2- Emirates Airline:
Emirates airline was first established in 1980, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It developed with time and became a part of their Emirate group which is a group owned by the administration of Dubai investment corporation. It is currently considered the biggest and the top airline in the Middle East with about 3,300 flights per week. The airline currently employs more than 10000 workers and has flights to more than 32 countries.
3- Gulf Air Airline:
Some of the companies in the Gulf Region that currently make the top use of the new technological development include; Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and the Emirate airline. Gulf Air was the very first airline in the Middle East; it was established as a way to connect Bahrain with the world in 1950. At first the company depended mostly on its trips to the Middle East however with time it developed its network to include more than 29 countries and more than 40 destinations. Gulf air is known for its commitment to the newest aviation technology and that always helps it develop more.
Web Analytics Methodology:
The next section will discuss the websites of the three companies mentioned above, their ratings in the search engines, the available services inside the websites and the Keywords, links and The SEO strategies employees through the website.
1- URL Name Analysis:
The URL (the link) or the name of the website of the three companies reflects their services really well. The Gulf Air website URL is Gulfair.com which basically tells whoever searches for an aviation company online or comes upon the website by chance that this is a URL for an airline or an aviation company; same with Qatar airways, the website of the company (Qatarairways.com) reflects its services and does not allow viewers to mistake it for anything else. Finally, the website of Emirate Airline is probably the weakest when it comes to its name (Emirates.com) as a name is not a strong name. The website name is confusing for people who do not know of the airline. The emirates is what a lot of people call the country of the united Arab emirate and it is probably hard for people to get that the website is an airline company`s website from its name.
2- Search Engine Analysis:
It is easy to find most of the companies’ websites through the different search engines. Through “Google” emirate airline is always in the top as number one when you search its name, also the company always uses Google adds to increase its rating online and that`s why it is easy to find it in the top search results online. Gulf air and Qatar airways are pretty much the same when it comes to searching their names or “airlines in the middle east “, in both cases the companies remain in the top results using Google as a search engine. Using “Yahoo” the same results appeared for the company’s rankings in the search engine; however when searching for the companies using different words or more general search terms, the companies websites went down a lot in the ranking and did not appear even in the first or the second page. The rating of all the three companies using general terms goes all the way from first place to the 4000th place thus it needs a lot of work to improve it.
3- SEO Strategy:
The SEO strategies followed in all the websites are good however they still can be improved more, thus, with some adjustments they can become even better and help the websites get more visitors. For emirates airline, adding more to the Meta description of the website is a top thing that the company should think of, along with adding more keywords to the website. Beside that making sure all the links available inside the website are working is also essential, linking to a Google plus page that is never used does not say a lot of top stuff about a company and thus working on that issue should also become a priority for the company. For gulf air the company needs to increase the keywords in the website , also they need to work on making their website more mobile friendly and should also work on making the company rank higher in search engines other than Google and BING. Finally, for Qatar airways, adding more keywords is again important to raise the company`s rating and traffic in the search engine beside that the company`s SEO strategy seems to be fine.
4- Accessibility:
The three websites are easily accessible through PCS and Tablets however not all are accessible through mobiles, Emirate airline has a mobile website and thus it is very mobile friendly. The mobile website of the company allows you to choose the language you want to use and gives you quick and easy options that help you navigate the website easily. They even have a mobile app that people could use instead of the mobile website. Beside that, Qatar airways provides the very same services as Emirate airline and even offer a list of mobile services with explanations that you can find on the main website. Gulf air on the other hand is not mobile friendly and the website does not show up easily on mobile devices which is a very negative aspect of the website of the company and the company must try to improve it in the future.
5- Compatibility with Web Browsers:
The three websites are compatible with Firefox and Chrome; however, they are faster to access through chrome and quicker to move through using it. On the other hand, if you want to enter the websites through internet explorer, Emirate airline especially lags a lot on internet explorer and because the website mainly use java scrip which always makes internet explorer slower, accessing the website through internet explorer is not easy.
6- Security:
Since we are dealing with airline websites in which online reservations using credit cards are essential, it is important to examine the security of the three website of the companies mentioned in this report. First emirate airline, the website of the company offers a three verification step in case you enter the password wrong and that makes it very secure. Second; Qatar airways, the website sends automatic mails whenever a wrong password was entered for your account. Finally, gulf air, the security of the website is very tight and any account done on the website must have a long and complicated password to be accepted. Thus, the three companies all employ top security measures to ensure their customer’s data stays safe.
7- Sharing:
The three websites are all connected to different social media outlets and that helps the website increase the amount of people who visit it and helps the company itself increase the amount of people who become interested in it. Having various accounts on various social media outlets makes it easier for the company to share its news online and that allows people to get the latest news of the company and even interact easily with representatives from the companies. Sharing is essential in any SEO strategy.
8- Visitors:
Emirate airline website has the largest amount of visitors if compared to the other two companies. The amount of visitors for the website reach about 696800 monthly and the amount of visitors for the website of Qatar airways reach about 664533 monthly followed by gulf air with about 663421 monthly. Thus emirate airline always get more visitors than the rest.
9- Advertising:
In terms of advertisements, the websites of the three companies all have no advertisements which make it easy to navigate them without any annoying ads flashing into your face. The Emirates website does not employ any adds same with Qatar airways and gulf air; however, Gulf Air is the only website without many external links in the home page of the website. Thus, it is the easiest to navigate.
10- Performance:
The three websites all make use of flash player and java script in their design and that makes them harder to load than normal PHP websites or a normal html page. The one that is slower to load most of the time is the Emirate website because it has more JavaScript than the rest, following it comes Qatar airways and finally gulf air. The Gulf air website employs very little external links and has a very simple design and that allows it to work faster and load faster for online users.
11- Marketing:
Qatar airways uses Google adds and Google add words to advertise it, they also use Bing to raise their rating and advertise themselves on several platforms using several methods. Emirate airline does the same however they also use mobile ads to advertise themselves. Gulf air uses add words most of the time and can be easily found in good ads upon searching for its name.
Summary:
In conclusion, throughout this report various online website analytic tools were used and the data mentioned were found out through automated analytical methods. The differences between the companies were mostly drawn out from the research done by the researchers and the suggestions mentioned that could help the company improve their traffic were all drawn out from the data that the researchers decided upon. This report discussed three of the most important airline companies in the gulf region and analyzed the company`s usage of their websites and the right ways to improve it. It mentioned all the differences between the three companies and all the similarities between them.
