Airline Tragedies Crisis Response Strategies

 

Two airlines, two aircraft down, and two very different crisis management responses. One strategy was successful; the other was disastrous.

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 lost contact with ground controllers and vanished in early March last year. The search for the plane continues across 23,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean.

An Indonesian AirAsia Airbus380 went missing on Dec. 28, 2014. Searchers have recovered debris and bodies from tragedy, and have now found the flight recorders.

Critics charge Malaysian Airlines reacted slowly in the hours after the plane disappeared and failed to release information. The airline has also been criticized for its ineffectual search for the missing plane.

Experts say executives were reluctant to admit the airline had a problem, that it made errors, or that it needed help to search for the plane. “They dug a hole for themselves that was so deep they couldn’t climb out,” Desmond Ross, principal of DRA Professional Aviation Services told Advertising Age.

The crisis response by AirAsia was much better, observers say. The airline was not as secretive or defensive. It responded much faster, released information quickly to customers, family members and the media, and was willing to seek outside help.

AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes took personal control of the communications, responded quickly and thoroughly, and showed extraordinary empathy. Taking a hands-on approach, Fernandes shuttled back and forth between the airport at Surabaya where the plane took off and the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, engaged the public on social media, and offered his personal condolences to families of passengers.

“This whole AirAsia thing has been handled in a better way,” Ross said. “They just leaped straight in, all hands to the pump and have sort of gone for it, which is a much better scenario.”

Speed and transparency

The examples demonstrate the value of speed and transparency as hallmarks of PR crisis management.

More specifically, experts including Jennifer Connelly, founder and CEO of public relations agency JCPR, in a post for Entrepreneur, and online marketing expert John W. Hayes, recommend following these steps:

Prepare. During calm times before a crisis, develop a list of third-party allies who will be sympathetic to your company. Build a team. Create a crisis management team and crisis management plan prior to a crisis.

Communicate with the media. Silence is definitely not golden when it comes to managing a crisis. Inform the media of your work to resolve the situation and your progress. Address the media directly and promptly or reporters may be tempted draw on rumors and innuendo. If you don’t respond, you create a vacuum that can be filled by rumors and social media.

Inform your online followers. Let your social media followers know you are working to resolve the issue, especially if it might require some time to resolve. Admit to what you don’t know, and share what you do know.

Reassure. Join conversations to give reassurance. When issues are resolved, drop them a personal line to tell them everything has returned normal and to thank them for their patience. Address concerns of stakeholders methodically.

Tailor your message to the audience. For example, your shareholders have different interests than the general public.

Avoid promises. Making promises you can’t keep can be disastrous.

Monitor social media. Even if you uphold your reputation on Facebook and Twitter, problems can be growing across the Internet on a range of the many other social media platforms, as well as blogs and forums. A social media monitoring tool can keep you informed throughout the crisis.

Don’t attack competitors. Don’t criticize competitors when they facing difficulties. Focus on your strengths instead of their weaknesses.

Resist absolutes. Avoid words such as always, never, least and most. Don’t say anything in public that you cannot defend with facts.

Bottom Line: Because a plane crash represents the epitome of a tragedy, the  management responses of airlines after a crash serve as excellent case studies of how to and how not to react to crises. No matter the crisis situation, the basic management requirement is rapid, honest response delivered with empathy.