Thinking through the meteoric rise of Middle-East carriers from Singapore Airlines' vantage point

•Many full-service carriers face intense competition from 3 Middle East carriers: Emirates, Etihad & Qatar Airways.•Based on the idea of generic strategy, options for Singapore Airlines to respond to these competition are analyzed.•It is difficult for Singapore Airlines to match the market scope capable of being reached by the Middle East carriers.•Singapore Airlines managed to adopt a more differentiated market position relative to these Middle East carriers.•In addition, a budget business product and a premium economy cabin are potentially viable strategic options.

The rise of Middle East carriers in the past decade has been nothing less than meteoric. Based on the notion of generic strategy, we analysed the potential for competitors of the leading Middle East carriers to respond in terms of market scope and product characteristics, using Singapore Airlines as a reference. We found that it was generally difficult for Singapore Airlines to compete in terms of market scope, and thus it should concentrate on offering different degrees of differentiation in its products. While the latest small, long-haul aircraft could help increase Singapore Airlines' market scope, this impact would be marginal at best. We compared the product offerings and prices for the Business and Economy cabins, and noted the intensive competitive pressures the leading Middle East carriers exerted on Singapore Airlines. Improving specific product qualities such as guaranteeing a horizontally flat bed in Business and the overall quality in Economy helps competitors command higher prices, while other niches are still possible.