Newly appointed Emirates Philippines Country Manager Saeed Abdulla Miran recently sat down with members of the media to talk about the future of the company in the Philippines and his vision for the country in line with his new designation. The event was held last September 9 at the EDSA Shangri-La Manila in Mandaluyong City.
One of the topics that Miran discussed during the event was the challenge of improving confidence in travel among Filipino customers, many of which are still travel-averse due to the ongoing global health crisis.
“Based on our observations, the largest challenge that we are seeing today remains to be the attitude of many Filipinos towards traveling,” Miran said. “The pandemic has really impacted their confidence and we see now that many players in the aviation sector are doing their best to boost travel confidence.”
Nevertheless, Miran expressed optimism on behalf of Emirates seeing how the country is opening up and the aviation industry is slowly recovering from the pandemic, adding that this is the reason why the company launched its First Class service in the country. “Actually, we’re seeing healthy travel out of the Philippines,” Miran said. “We recently introduced First Class travel here to cater to a segment that has not been tapped before.”
“There has been a long-unfulfilled demand for First Class air travel in the country, and we saw that as an opportunity. Also, Filipinos are very passionate about traveling the world, and by launching our First Class service here, we are giving them more options to travel in luxury.”
In July, Emirates launched the country’s first-ever daily First Class service, making it the only carrier operating here to offer such service. Aside from being able to provide more options for Filipino travelers in terms of the cabins available to them, Miran said that the newly launched service is one of the many ways Emirates is helping the country’s tourism industry. “We are proud to do our part in welcoming travelers from all corners of the globe to the Philippines through our flights to Manila, Clark, and Cebu.“
Miran assured everyone that Emirates remains committed not only to helping Filipinos experience what the world has to offer, but also to supporting the Philippine economy.
“Having recently been appointed as Country Manager Philippines, I would like to reaffirm Emirates’ commitment to the market. I follow in a line of remarkable individuals who left valuable legacies as Country Managers in the past, and I promise to continue in their path as I put in all my effort to help drive further success and growth both for Emirates and the local community.”
