Emirates extends its commitment in Europe
DUBAI, U.A.E., 2014-04-2 — /Travel PR News/ — Emirates has announced it will open its second customer contact centre in Europe with a 300 seat facility in Budapest this year. Supporting hundreds of local jobs, the contact centre represents a multi-million dollar investment by the airline in Hungary.
Europe is a strategically important market for Emirates and this new facility in Budapest will play a critical role in supporting the airline’s growth plans across the continent. In addition to supporting the airline’s European expansion plans the 300 jobs created by this facility will further stimulate Hungary’s strong job market.
“It is an honour for Hungary and proves the success of our foreign economic policy of Opening towards the East, that one of the most significant companies in the United Arab Emirates, our most important trading partner in the Arabic region, has chosen Hungary as the location of their second European Service Centre,” said Péter Szijjártó, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations about Emirates’ investment in Hungary.
“We searched extensively across Europe to find the right location for this facility and Budapest ticked all the right boxes for us. The support from the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency has been incredibly valuable in bringing this project to fruition,” said Karen Bell-Wright, Emirates Senior Vice President Retail and Contact Centre. “Budapest offers us a population base with the right mix of languages and skill sets, as well as strong telecommunications infrastructure. Hungary is an attractive investment location for global business with a supportive and progressive government and we look forward to developing this relationship.”
When open, the facility will house reservation services as well as multi-lingual support for the frequent flyer program, Emirates Skywards. The new centre, capable of handling calls and emails in nine languages, will operate in addition to Emirates’ existing contact centres in Dubai, Manchester, Mumbai, New York, Melbourne and Guangzhou.
“Our contact centres currently handle 11 million calls each year and as our network continues to grow, it is increasingly important for us to provide high quality and multilingual assistance for customers, as well as our trade partners” added Ms Bell-Wright. “Europe represents a significant portion of our global revenue and this new contact centre will play a key role in maintaining and stimulating this growth.”
Emirates’ six global contact centres support over 45 countries and average around 35,000 calls and emails per day. Together these contact centres have the capability of handling customer queries in 18 languages.
When open Emirates’ Budapest based contact centre will be linked virtually to the airline’s existing contact centre network, creating a seamless customer experience. Recruitment for the new centre will commence this spring.
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When open, Emirates’ new Contact Centre in Budapest will further support the airline’s goal of providing the best possible customer service at every point of a passenger’s journey.