JABR AL-AZEEBY – EMIRATES AIRLINES VP FOR THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Al-Azeeby began his career with Emirates in October 2005 as a commercial graduate trainee, and quickly moved up the ranks to the role of country manager in 2008. He held this first position for three years, gaining significant expertise in managing commercial operations and teams, enhancing the customer experience, looking for opportunities to better serve the local community.

Jabr has been with Emirates for 16 years, previously holding Country Manager roles in Uganda, Cyprus, Thailand, Pakistan, before taking on his most recent role as Vice President, India and Nepal. In 2021, Jabr Al Azeeby has been appointed as Vice President for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this exclusive interview by Narges Raiss, he discusses Emirates’ commercial strategy, the positioning and expansion plans in the Kingdom in line with the National Vision 2030.

The Leader

What makes Saudi Arabia such a key market for the airline?

Saudi Arabia is a very important market in the Emirates network. Today, we operate 65 weekly flights, including a number of flights operated by our A380 and we continue to see passenger demand progressively grow across our gateways. Our objective is to maintain the healthy demand for leisure and business travel not just outbound, but also inbound into Saudi Arabia to help support the Kingdom’s tourism targets.

How is the Saudi market for Emirates in terms of revenue and traffic?

Saudi Arabia is one of our biggest markets and significantly contributes to our commercial objectives in the region. We fly to four gateways – Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Medina and consistently run healthy load factors, and Saudi Arabia is one of the top performing markets in our network.

What is Emirates’ commercial strategy for the Kingdom?

Our main focuses on a global level continue to be growing our network and maintaining healthy demand across all of our destinations, despite inflationary impacts, higher fuel prices and other global headwinds.

We also continue to promote Dubai in the Kingdom, which has traditionally always been a popular destination for Saudis, whether for extended stays or short leisure and business trips.

Do you have any particular segment for Saudi Arabia that you are focusing on?

We cater to multiple segments given our diverse network, and we continue to closely watch travel patterns throughout the year in KSA across our gateways.

How are you expecting air traffic and tourism to become a drive economically and socially?

Yes, and that’s why we partnered last year with the Saudi Tourism Authority to support its efforts to unlock the immense potential and attractions of the Kingdom’s vibrant culture, heritage and stunning biodiversity to the world.

KSA is successfully positioning itself as a must-visit destination and these are only the beginnings of a flourishing tourism industry that is set to wow the world. Emirates has the shared objective to contribute to the Kingdom’s broader tourism plans to attract a diverse range of visitors, strengthen awareness of its iconic sites, and make them more accessible through enhanced connectivity. We look forward to growing our relationship with tourism authorities and the wider travel ecosystem to positively impact the Kingdom’s tourism growth.

What measures are you taking to elevate the nation’s vision 2030?

As mentioned above, Emirates signed an MoU last year with the Saudi Tourism Authority to boost inbound tourism into Saudi Arabia and attract new segments of travelers across our diverse network. We are jointly aiming to collaborate on key initiatives to enhance the Kingdom’s global tourism competitiveness, including promotional activity and travel trade support across key global source markets to convert interest into bookings, sharing insights around market and customer trends, amongst other initiatives.

Are there any new destinations/offerings that you are planning to launch?

We are eyeing a few destinations and will announce them when the time is right. We are also on track to start receiving delivery of the Airbus A350s in 2024. It will be a new aircraft type to our fleet mix and we are excited for its arrival and what is in store when it comes to expanding our network and continuing our growth trajectory, keeping our fleet fresh and young and offering better experiences for our fliers.

How do you expect foreign residents and guest visiting alike to connect with Saudi Arabia?

We’re already seeing interest from travelers around our network to visit the Kingdom, and with more relaxed visa policies in place and visionary government initiatives to boost inbound visits, we will see even more visitors flocking in to immerse themselves in local culture, fascinating antiquities, striking landscapes and nature, and of course experience the warm Saudi hospitality.

Saudi Arabia is booming and on a really exciting journey – what are you hoping to see next in the near future?

We hope to see even more innovative attractions. Saudi Arabia has so much potential, and this is coupled with major investments to enhance its attractiveness as a tourist destination.

We hope to see more innovative projects underway like that of Neom and the Red Sea Project which will really take things to the next level.

What do you foresee for the future of Emirates in KSA?

We hope to be able to progressively grow in line with travel demand in and out of Saudi Arabia by carefully analysing the market, its performance and needs, which will show if there are more opportunities for us to expand our presence. Our network is unmatched when it comes to connecting to every corner of the world, coupled with our signature products and services and we have a lot to offer travelers, not only travelling out of the Kingdom, but also wanting to come and explore this beautiful country.

Tell us more about your career till date?

I received my Engineering degree, then launched my career in banking. But my passion has always been in aviation, and that led me to Emirates. I’ve never looked back and have been enjoying and excelling in this career for the past 17 years.

You have been appointed as KSA’s Vice President for Emirates last year, how has been the journey so far?

The journey has been extremely rewarding so far. The Kingdom is one of the most dynamic markets in our network right now and its very exciting to be here, watching the rapid change and development happening right before our eyes, day in and day out.

The visionary leadership is ushering in a new era for Saudi Arabia and we’re proud, as an aviation player, to be contributing to that growth.

How do you plan to take it further?

We still have a lot to accomplish in this market, along with our local partners to support the Kingdom’s vision to grow its tourism and aviation sectors.