The Shifting Landscape Of The ME3

Recently the ME3, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar have all garnered attention for their differing stances on their lucrative premium passengers. While Etihad has taken the stance of appealing to all classes especially economy, Emirates is going to try to lure First Class passengers with a new First Class cabin in November, and Qatar seeks to attract the  lucrative Business Class passenger with the introduction of the QSuite.

Emirates recently showcased its new layout for the 777, which takes the First Class cabin from Eight seats down to Six. This much anticipated product will be revealed in November, and has already bee touted to equal cabins found upon luxury yachts.

This is drastic contrast to the recent news of Etihad, our award-winning First Class carrier, who has taken a paired back route of offering passenger the ability to bolt-on once complimentary services such as chauffeur-driven cars in destinations outside of Abu Dhabi. This ancillary drive will help bring in extra revenue, but may come as a compromise to their regular business class passengers who saw this as a valuable addition to the business and first class product.

Luckily, those travelling in The Residence, will still benefit from the complimentary chauffeur service, while those in economy will be able to add the same service for a fee, meaning all passengers on Etihad can now benefit from the five-star service albeit at a cost, including Etihad’s First Class Lounge.

Pitching their camp firmly in-between is Qatar with their new QSuite, firmly trying to attract business class passengers with a new fully-flat business class product that will give Qatar an impressive and unique product in comparison to their ME3 counterparts.

While all three carriers are approaching the upcoming months with differing strategies, it will be interesting to see which strategy delivers the best results.