airasia crisis management case study

AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study Presentation

Introduction.

There have been countable air crashes over the years.

The Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have been described as two of the worst crashes of all time.

This presentation analyzes the response the two airlines gave after their planes crashed.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

The Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was a passenger flight.

The flight, operated by Malaysia Airlines, crashed on March 2014 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

Critics consider the crash worse than the AirAsia plane crash.

Neither the plane, nor the passengers have been located to date.

Initially, the plane was perceived to have fallen in the South China Sea. However, a search in the region did not bear any fruit. A lot of money and other resources have been used to enhance the search to no avail. It is perceived that all the 227 and 12 crew members died.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501

The Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was an international passenger flight, under the AirAsia Group.

The plane, carrying approximately 155 passengers and seven crew members, crashed on 28th December 2014.

All passengers and staff in the plane were killed.

106 bodies were recovered and handed over to the families.

Airplane debris was found in the Java Sea after an extensive search, prompting searchers to look in the general region. The searchers were able to recover 106 bodies, which were returned to their respective families.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 – The crash

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed in the Java Sea due to bad weather.

The wreck from the crash was located on the floor of the Java Sea on 8th January, 2014.

The analysis of the black box showed that the plane had stalled and failed to regain speed.

It was the first crash that involved an AirAsia plane.

The crash was the first to be recorded in the eighteen years of operation of AirAsia. It was decsribed as the third worst plane crash in the year 2014.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – the crash

Flight 37o is often described as having experienced a crash:

• However, no form of debris has been found.

Conspiracy theories have been formed regarding its disappearance.

It is speculated that terrorists hijacked the plane.

The airline released a press statement saying that the pilot was the core suspect in tragedy.

A lot of conspiracy theories have been formulated regarding the air crash because no debris has been recovered so far. It is thought that there was foul play involving the pilot. However, these are mere speculations.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 – Reaction

AirAsia group rebranded its web pages in mourning immediately after the crash.

The airline also established an emergency call center.

It also renamed the flight number:

• ¡The intention was to ease the public tension towards the particular flight number.

There were legal aspects that made the public relations strategy picked by the airline faulty. One family of the victims sued the company. The argument was that the airline did not have permission to fly on that fateful day. However, the airline took keen note of the emerging problem and used legal channels to prove that they were permitted to fly.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 – Video

AIR ASIA Flight QZ 8501 Goes MISSING – Pilot Asked for Unusual Route Before Losing Contact. By Elite NWO Agenda. Web.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – Reaction

Various groups and people released statements about the plane’s disappearance.

At first, the different groups contradicted each other in attempt to save face.

The groups included the airline officials, the government, and military leaders.

One of the blunders made was giving incomplete and inaccurate information.

There was a lot of confusion after the crash, as many of the countries and officials involved tried to save their positions and companies. The confusion led to delays in conduct the search. Given that numerous countries were involved in the search, they released information differently and led to more confusion.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – Video

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Mystery. By CNN.

Critique of both campaigns

Looking at both campaigns, one can note several differences:

• AirAsia had a more calculated public relations plan than the Malaysia Airlines.
• AirAsia used legal ways to get out information and respond to accusations, unlike the Malaysia Airlines.

It should be noted that AirAsia was in a slightly different position compared to Malaysia Airlines because the latter had to deal with pressures from different countries. This made their decision-making and information sharing more difficult.

• The division within the Malaysian Airlines caused a drift in its campaigns, unlike AirAsia.
• in turn, all the parties came out guilty.
• Similarly, the involvement of many people in the case made the situation worse for the Malaysia Airlines.

Even though both airlines had a difficult time trying to deal with the crashes, they took two very different stands. Whereas the Malaysia Airlines decided to throw blame around, AirAsia decided to empathoize with the public and mourn alongside the families. This tactic made them likeable in the public eye. Additionally, as confusion mired the Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia was setting up call centers that allowed a steady and more controlled form of information sharing.

Responses in an Arab country AirAsia

The AirAsia campaign would have worked in an Arab country:

• they were sympathetic to the public and the families of the passengers and crew members.
• They took ample precautions and retrieved the bodies of many of the passengers.
• Clear legal ways were sought to show that the airline was permitted to fly on the fateful day.

The Arabs tend to be very keen on detail. The AirAsia campaign was also keen on detail, making the information sharing easy. In the same breath, the company gave back the bodies of a majority of the victims to their families.

Responses in an Arab country – Malaysia Airline

The Malaysia Airlines campaign would not have worked in an Arab country.

The main complication would be the missing bodies of the passengers:

• It led to speculations of terrorism.

Saying that the disappearance of the plane was an act of terrorism was a way of marginalizing the Arabs:

• the core suspect, the pilot, was an Arab.

The airlines and authorities gave a press statement claiming that their main suspect was the pilot, an Arab. He was suspeted of terrorist actions and the airline failed to explain in detail how they came to that conclusion. People in the Arab countries would take offence of such a campaign.

Suggestions

Both airlines should always give information in a controlled manner.

They can also give out information showing legibility to avoid law suits.

The airlines should have one person relaying the information to the public:

• ¡it is more difficult for one person to contradict himself.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, July 11). AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study. https://ivypanda.com/essays/airasia-crisis-management-case-study/

"AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study." IvyPanda , 11 July 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/airasia-crisis-management-case-study/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study'. 11 July.

IvyPanda . 2022. "AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study." July 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/airasia-crisis-management-case-study/.

1. IvyPanda . "AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study." July 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/airasia-crisis-management-case-study/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "AirAsia: Crisis Management Case Study." July 11, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/airasia-crisis-management-case-study/.

• AirAsia Company
• AirAsia X’s Business Environment
• AirAsia Company and Its Success
• AirAsia X: From Low-Cost to Long-Haul Model
• CMR Implementation: Recommendation and Evaluation
• Air Travel, Cruises and Vacation Spots in America
• Java is the best programming language
• The Java and C++ Languages Comparison
• Anthropology Issues: Extinct Hominid Java Man
• Space Debris Problem
• Impact of Natural Disasters on Money Markets and Investment
• Disaster Planning for Families: Is Your Family Prepared?
• Emergency Management in the New Orleans Community
• Jomo Kenyatta International Airport: Effects of Adverse Weather
• Impact of Cybercrimes on Business

Product details

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Crisis Management in Communication: A Study on MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 Aviation Tragedies

In 2014, the MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 flight crash tragedies become a viral issue and attract the attention of media and stakeholders, globally, and raise many crises to the airlines' companies, respectively, including the risk of losing their stakeholders' trust. The study is to identify the crises management approaches used for the tragedies related, to analyse and compare the effectiveness of the crises management between two well-known airlines companies, Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS). The qualitative method was used to collect the data related to the ways that the airlines' company had taken to handling the crises. So, the researchers conducted content analysis by studying the secondary data, due to the fact of the airlines' reluctance to give out information about safety procedures or policies, as the airlines' accidents are a very sensitive subject. The data are mostly of the documentary types in written format of press conferences, press releases and media coverage of the accidents by local and western daily press (printed and online news).

Related Papers

Ivyanno U. Canny

When such a crises involve injury and loss of life, a comprehensive ability of organization to comprehend and predict the way of act and react of its diverse stakeholders its very important to keep the communications levels meet with their expectations, in terms of transparency and frequent communications to eliminate the paradigm of status quo during handling the catastrophe. On 24 March 2015 at 10:53 AM, the Airbus A320-211 from Germanwings carrying 144 passengers and six crew crashed in a remote area of the French Alps as it flew from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. To deal with challenges that tumble Lufthansa reputation (as the parent company of Germanwings) as well as the worldwide German airline industry reputation and financial losses, Germanwings is particularly used many strategies to communicate with stakeholders during the crisis occur. This paper employs the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) by Coombs to analyze how Lufthansa Group responded to the series of crisis communication during the flight crash crisis occurred. First, the analysis and evaluation of stakeholder's group are provided to give a clear path to whom Lufthansa Group should be responsible during the crisis occurred. Second, this thesis study outlines the perceptions of stakeholder's group and the possible reputational threat. Third, this paper investigated Lufthansa Group's crisis response strategies through an analysis of media channels, such as two press release, two press conference and video broadcast on certain period from 24-27 March 2015. Lastly, discussion on content analysis are conducted to measure the effectiveness of overall crisis communication response by Lufthansa Group according to SCCT model.

Syarifah Nawwar Syafiqah

Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal

Norman Zafra

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370 has been one of the most highly discussed and debated crises in recent times. The situation has put the organisation into the spotlight of global attention both as a business entity and as an extension of the Malaysian government. Drawing on mediating the media model (Pang, 2010) and information processing and knowledge management framework (Coombs, 2012), this study evaluates the air carrier's relationship with the media and online communication strategies during the crucial first two weeks of the crisis. The data were collected from Malaysia Airlines' traditional and new media public relations practices and were analysed using a qualitative case study methodology (Yin, 2009). This study argues that the unfavourable representation of Malaysia Airlines by its media stakeholders was complicated by both controlled and uncontrolled crisis elements ranging from information void to fragile relationship with the press.

Zulfadli Yusmar

The purpose of this academic writing is to Study the Perception of Bachelor of Communication (Hons.) Corporate Communication Students in Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) Shah Alam Towards Crisis Management Handling in Malaysia Airline Berhad (MAB): The Case Study of MH370. This research will be analysed the perception of the future Corporate Communication practitioner based on the three variables which is [1] The Approach Used by Malaysia Airline Berhad (MAB) In Handling MH370 Crisis, [2] The Frequency of Update in Media about MH370 Incidents in Malaysia Airline Berhad (MAB) & [3] The Suitability of Medium Used by Malaysia Airline Berhad (MAB) During the MH370 Crisis Management. The methodology used in this research paper is in a quantitative method which is in questionnaire form that has been distributed to a sample total of 141 respondents from Bachelor of Communication (Hons.) Corporate Communication population. The data collected then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Keywords: Malaysia Airline Berhad (MAB), MH370, Crisis, Management, Corporate Communication, Crisis Planning, New Media, Traditional Media, Perception

SHS Web of Conferences

Mus Chairil Samani

Jiani Liu , Leung Yue Wai , Wang Wenqi

Narayana Mahendra Prastya

When crisis occurs organization should respond the crisis quickly, open, and consistent. The emergence of new media makes the crisis more complex. New media, with its nature such as fast, interactive, many to many, could assist the organization in crisis communication. But on the other side, new media could also make the crisis more complex. The new media could make the pace of information, the uncertainty, and the rumors increasing. This paper discusses about how Malaysia Airlines using corporate website in communicating about the lost of flight MH 370. The first part of this paper describes the importance of using new media in crisis communication. The second part is literature review of the conceptual framework of crisis communication and new media (and social media) usage in crisis communication. The third part is findings and analysis about how Malaysia Airlines using their corporate website in crisis communication. The data of this part using Malaysia Airlines??? statements about the lost of MH-370 that posted in their corporate website: www.malaysiaairlines.com. The posting date is between 8th March 2014 and 25th May 2014. The analysis used Coombs??? (2006) crisis communication concept that consist of form and content. Form is what organization should do, and content is what organization should say in crisis. The last part is discussion and conclusion and several recommendations for further research. Keywords: corporate website, crisis communication, Malaysia Airlines, new media, public relations

Journal of Arts and Social Sciences

Chan Tak Jie

Crises are inevitable and it can be happened at any point of the organization process. Thus, it is worthwhile for the organization to identify the early plan of issue or potential risk occurring within organizations as it is not easy to win the reputation warfare. Thus, this paper aims to review the Boeing 737 Max case from the perspective of crisis communication and management approaches. The discussion of the case surrounded on the chronology of the case, crisis communication and management strategies carried out by Boeing 737 and lessons learned from it. This has called upon the management, especially the public relations or corporate communication department for aviation industry to look into it to form a strategic solution to safeguard the organization's reputation when the crisis strike.

Jurnal Komunikasi ISKI

Gusti N. Putra

The aviation industry is one of the most vulnerable industrial sectors to the crisis. Failure to manage the crisis they face, it can threaten their lives. Therefore, managers of airline companies are required to have the ability to manage crisis and communicate in crisis situations. Crisis communication strategy becomes an important part in crisis management. This study uses content analysis of the crisis communication strategies used by AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines in their respective aircraft accidents on December 28, 2014 and March 8, 2014. This research found that both companies are fast enough to respond to crises, despite they use different strategies in response of the crisis. AirAsia emphasizes the use of apology without ignoring compensating, while Malaysia Airlines emphasizes compensation without ignoring apology. Abstrak Dunia penerbangan merupakan salah satu sektor industri yang sangat rentan terserang krisis. Kegagalan dalam mengelola krisis yang mereka hadapi dapat mengancam kehidupan mereka. Oleh karena itu, para manajer pengelola perusahaan penerbangan dituntut untuk memiliki kemampuan dalam mengelola krisis dan berkomunikasi dalam situasi krisis. Strategi komunikasi krisis menjadi bagian penting yang dalam pengelolaan krisis. Penelitian ini dengan menggunakan analisis isi terhadap strategi komunikasi krisis yang digunakan AirAsia dan Malaysia Airlines dalam kecelakaan pesawat mereka yang terjadi masing-masing pada 28 Desember 2014 dan 8 Maret 2014. Riset ini menemukan bahwa kedua perusahaan cukup cepat dalam merespon krisis walau terdapat perbedaan dalam strategi mereka dalam merespon krisis. AirAsia lebih menekankan pada penggunan apologi tanpa mengabaikan kompensasi, sementara Malaysia Airlines lebih menekankan kompensasi tanpa mengabaikan apologi.

RELATED PAPERS

Revista Española de Medicina Nuclear

Teresa Massardo

Mulia Hutapea

Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira

Juliana Paschoal

Florin Turcaș

Ubaidillah Zain

IEEE Communications Letters

pritish varadwaj

Katarzyna Materska

Z. Piotrowski

Nature Cell Biology

Andres Parra

Advanced Materials

Konstantinos Chrissafis

Redes Digitais e Culturas Ativistas 2

Bruno Madureira Ferreira

Semiconductor Science and Technology

Revista Mexicana de Física

Journal of Physical Oceanography

Fredrick Edward Makumbi

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

Prof Dr Tuncay Duruöz

Sustainability

Zong Woo Geem

subhash pawar

Journal of Applied Physiology

William Kraemer

Ariadna Llorens

International journal of scientific research in computer science, engineering and information technology

Muheet Ahmed Butt

El banquete de los dioses

Diego Fernández Peychaux

Maria Faison

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Lessons in crisis communication from Air Asia

About the author.

Our guest authors are what make PR Place such a vibrant hub of information, exploration and learning.

This is an edited version of a prize-winning essay on crisis communication submitted by Taylor’s University/University of West of England dual award student Diandra Phua.

On 28 December 2014, AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501 was scheduled for an international passenger flight from Indonesia to Singapore using an Airbus A320-216.

The aircraft operating the route was just over 40 minutes into its flight when it lost contact with air traffic controllers. The aircraft then stalled and crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board. The majority of the passengers on board the aircraft were Indonesian.

Two days after the crash, human remains and debris from the aircraft were found floating in the Java Sea by fishermen. The wreckage was located on the seafloor soon after with the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder recovered on 13 January 2015.

On 4 March 2015, the search for the remains was called off by Bambang Soelistyo, national search and rescue chief, after two months of vigorous searching.

250px-AirAsia_New_Logo.svgDespite not being directly responsible and despite owning 49% share of AirAsia Indonesia and with Fersindo Nusaperkasa owning a 51% share, Tan Sri Anthony Francis “Tony” Fernandes (Tony Fernandes) stepped up to the plate to handle the situation.

To the world, he handled this crisis perfectly and by the book. By the book, meaning that AirAsia conformed to using the Image Restoration Theory. Benoit (1995) brought a rhetorical perspective of crisis communication to light by emphasising that similarly, to individuals, organisations enact image restoration attempts when they perceive that their reputation is being threatened.

Face is an important commodity and organisations wanted to be perceived by their stakeholders in a certain way. Through this, they engaged in a communicative behaviour “to reduce redress, or avoid damage” onto themselves.

Image Restoration Theory has five main categories: denial, evasion of responsibility, reducing offensiveness of the event, corrective action and mortification (Benoit, 1995). AirAsia took on the reducing offensiveness and mortification strategy.

With the reducing offensiveness strategy, they gave out compensation to reduce the degree of negative feeling within those affected and unaffected. The families involved were initially offered £15,000, an amount which some families refused to settle with. AirAsia then increased the compensation to £66,000. This showed that the organisation was willing to help the victims of the crisis while showing sympathy and proving itself to be responsible.

With their mortification strategy, AirAsia took on the responsibility of the crash head on with their spokesperson being Tony Fernandes to make public apologies who said he would honour the airline’s obligations to them in a statement which was “I apologise profusely for what they are going through. I am the leader of this company; I take responsibility. That is why I am here. I am not running away from my obligations.” Many other steps were taken to ensure the preservation of the company’s reputation, as shown in later paragraphs. All of which, made AirAsia very successful in their crisis management strategies.

A fatal incident like this either brings total success or total failure to an airline. Cause of incident aside, every little thing done could affect the reputation of the company. Professionalism and authenticity of the airline’s response is beneficial to the company’s reputation and this is exactly what AirAsia did, in light of the incident.

The first thing Tony Fernandes did was take centre stage in responding quickly with real actions.

Tony Fernandes tweetsHe managed this crisis through social media by tweeting via AirAsia’s own twitter account about the incident that they would have a statement soon, barely an hour after it happened. The tweet said, “We will be putting out another statement soon. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.we must stay strong.”

Three hours after the tweet, he was on a flight to Surabaya with clear intentions of what he was doing; he was in the city to meet with families of the passengers and crew, as mentioned in his tweet, “On my way to Surabaya where most of the passengers are from, with my Indonesian management. Providing information as we get it” and “Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. We must stay strong.”

Because of this, newspapers and websites started covering him in a positive light. A local news website was quoted saying, “Fernandes maintained an image of calm today even as his company plunged into its first major crisis after Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 went missing in bad weather en route from Indonesia to Singapore.”

This was not the first time Tony Fernandes had taken charge of a crisis, as seen in him taking charge and apologising for running an advertisement that called nurses “lousy”. Tony Fernandes isn’t the type to play the “blame game”, where once something goes sour, fingers are quickly pointed.

In the case of Flight QZ8501, he could have easily washed his hands of the issue and blame his Indonesian partners since they were majority shareholders, or put the blame on the weather, but, no, he stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for everything.

Tony Fernandes made himself available to the media and became the focal point of the whole incident. He has a history of open communications in the airline industry. Through this, he demonstrated his, as well as the company’s, total support and care towards those of whom were directly affected by the incident.

This also showed the company’s commitment to find out what happened during the aircraft crash. Since the crash happened, being in the spotlight, Tony Fernandes, an active twitter user with close to a million followers, quickly apologised for the loss of life, while expressing shock and sympathy. “I apologise profusely for what they are going through. I am the leader of this company and I have to take responsibility,” Tony Fernandes said at a televised news conference. He also answered questions following facts while avoiding speculation.

While all this was happening, the airline and its Indonesian unit were issuing statements regularly in several languages, posting up the nationalities of the passengers and setting up a briefing room for the families of the passengers.

Air Asia BloombergA hotline for relatives was set up as well. Tony Fernandes played the human factor very well, in all his statements and interviews, he sounded authentic, genuine and credible while looking after the families of those affected; his number one priority at that time.

This could be seen from the words he used to his facial expression. This goes to show that AirAsia was stepping forward to take responsibility for their actions. Through this, Tony Fernandes showed a lot of empathy and used many channels to get that across, from social media to the television. From his actions, the company seemed more sincere compared to many corporate executives after a disaster or mistake. AirAsia, in expression of their grief of the disappearance of the plane, changed all their social media logos from red to grey.

Tony Fernandes used a smart strategy in using social media to report and give updates on the crisis. This is because social media can be a way to provide real time alerts at a swift pace.

With Facebook and Twitter being the social media used by AirAsia to give information and instructions, they already had an accumulated audience of over four million; almost three million coming from their AirAsia Facebook account and over one million from their Twitter account. Through the use of social media, the world could be updated instantly and facts communicated in a timely manner. This showed that real time communication via social media could change the way crises are managed and experienced by the population.

There was a need to focus not only on communicating to the affected persons but to take into account that the unaffected too, need information. All these people can be included in the communications strategy; to enhance resilience in the long run and to improve their knowledge of the crisis. With the help of social media, transparency of the company would be improved and trust would be gained. With regularly updated tweets, AirAsia enhanced their level of transparency as well and capitalised the trust of their followers that benefited and adapted to the breaking news effect.

In a televised news conference, Tony Fernandes said “It’s very difficult because they lost loved ones,” and “I think all I could do was provide comfort, provide assurance that we’d be there throughout—we’d never forget them.” Through actively engaging his readers through social media, he provided transparency during the plane crash’s investigation. “I think people want to know, and they’ve got to hear it from the man in charge,” he said. “I just think I’m the boss and I’ve got to lead from the front.” Through all these tactics, AirAsia responded fairly well to the crisis.

Though AirAsia communicated the crisis well, in terms of establishing good communication channels and compensation to families involved, they did one thing wrong, which was speaking extensively in a crisis where all the facts were not laid out yet.

Getting information out quickly can conflict with the need to get information out accurately which is exactly what happened to AirAsia. Even though Tony Fernandes took charge and engaged social media to disseminate his key messages, this overlooked point could have put the company’s reputation in jeopardy. This could be seen when it was reported that Flight QZ8501 did not have required permits from regulators to fly on the day of the crash. It was reported that transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said the airline was only permitted to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from late 2014 to early 2015.

Due to this, Tony Fernandes’ credibility was called into question, making him confront the issue of him not having the same information while addressing the crisis. Since the emergence of the information, Tony Fernandes reduced his public commentary dramatically. He had to withhold specific comments until more facts came to light. The communications challenge that AirAsia has to overcome is re-establishing their credibility in the future. To overcome this, it is recommended to say nothing until all facts are available. Besides that, the airline should gather facts as fast as possible because those affected and unaffected need to be quickly informed.

Summarising the above, it is difficult to respond to a crisis perfectly. Different crises offer different kinds of lessons but one clear lesson everyone took away from AirAsia’s crisis is that personal responses are more effective than corporate responses.

People relate to people and AirAsia is a fine example of that.

Related topics

Cookies on this site.

We use cookies to improve your experience on our site, and to help us run our services.

Find out more in our  Cookie Policy

• The Identity Way
• Apprenticeship Program
• Modern PR Mix
• Our Process
• Real Estate
• Professional Services
• Retail & Restaurants
• Hospitality
• Attractions
• Case Studies

Crisis Communication: 5 Critical Steps to Take, Modeled By AirAsia’s Recent Actions

By: rachel bonello.

The most recent crisis to storm the Internet involves AirAsia after flight QZ8501 vanished from radar screens on Dec. 28 , less than half way into a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

After three days of rigorous searching, wreckage and bodies were recovered floating some 10 miles from the plane’s last known coordinates in the Java Sea. This confirmed that the plane crashed, costing 162 passengers their lives. A report by the Indonesian weather agency (BMKG) said inclement weather was the “biggest factor” in the crash.

In the midst of this awful tragedy, AirAsia’s CEO Tony Fernandes has been commended for his effective crisis management . Immediately after the company announced the disappearance of flight QZ8501, Fernandes made himself available to media, speaking alongside government officials, to become the face of the company crisis. He came prepared with facts and a willingness to present the truth as it unfolded, and his genuine approach and sincere comments were well received.

In this digital age, with a plethora of information sharing platforms, crisis communications plans should span across diverse media and social media channels in the event of a tragedy. Utilizing AirAsia’s recent response as a real-time example, here are the top five steps for developing a crisis communications plan:

• Be prepared. Have a crisis communications plan in place BEFORE a crisis occurs. While it’s impossible to plan for everything, having the framework in place ensures a swifter and more effective response. Once flight QZ8501 went missing, AirAsia immediately announced that all official updates would be communicated on its Facebook page. This avoided any potential confusion from third party sites and opened up a two-way form of communication, rather than the company releasing official (but static) statements. Determine who the critical decision makers are and who will serve as the spokesperson and inform all players of their roles.
• Get trained. No matter a company size or status, the leadership team should be properly media trained as spokespeople, which will pay off dividends in the midst of a crisis. Fernandes has taken a textbook approach to the AirAsia tragedy by being hands on, honest and transparent in his communication style to the public. Stay prepared by taking the time to practice responses to difficult questions before speaking to the media.
• Be accountable. Brands involved in the crisis from the start should take responsibility. After changing AirAsia’s bright red logo to a grieving grey, Fernandes bravely took to Twitter to communicate his deepest condolences and prayers on behalf of the company, stating “we will get through this terrible ordeal together.” By giving a genuine and timely response, people will be quicker to forgive.
• Take action. In the aftermath of a crisis, a company must figure out how to rebuild its brand to regain the public’s trust. Fernandes led by example by flying to Indonesia a few hours after the crash to be with the families of the passengers. Not only did he respond to the scene immediately, the airline was also quick to arrange hotel accommodation and transportation for those living outside of Surabaya.
• Revisit and revise. As a company evolves, new crisis situations will arise and messaging will evolve. A crisis communications plan should be a living document that companies revisit annually.

If handled differently, the headlines about AirAsia could have been radically more negative. The company has produced a great case study of how to handle a delicate crisis situation. AirAsia serves as a reminder to us all that emergencies can occur at any point in time. Companies that can be prepared, get trained, be accountable and take action are more likely to perform at a better level in the event of a crisis.

Photo Credit:  Clément Alloing

recommended posts

June 14, 2023

Modern crisis trends that matter right now.

May 17, 2023

How to fortify your real estate marketing team.

Our site uses cookies. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy.

Fern Fort University

Airasia faces a major crisis: the loss of qz8501 change management analysis & solution, hbr change management solutions, strategy & execution case study | jonathan p. doh, thomas lawton, andreas schotter, case study description.

On December 28, 2014, contact with Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, was lost after it left Surabaya, Indonesia bound for Singapore. All passengers were believed dead. Until this horrific incident, AirAsia and its various affiliated airlines, which included AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia, along with several other airlines organized in joint ventures throughout Southeast Asia, had recorded rising profits, rapid expansion and, until this incident, a solid safety record. The company was buoyed by a savvy marketing strategy and the leadership of its flamboyant founder. He was concerned now about how this tragedy would affect AirAsia's business in the short and long term. Should he delay or even stop some of his aggressive growth initiatives?

Change Management, Crisis management , Case Study Solution, Term Papers

Order a AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 case study solution now

What is Change Management Definition & Process? Why transformation efforts fail? What are the Change Management Issues in AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 case study?

According to John P. Kotter – Change Management efforts are the major initiatives an organization undertakes to either boost productivity, increase product quality, improve the organizational culture, or reverse the present downward spiral that the company is going through. Sooner or later every organization requires change management efforts because without reinventing itself organization tends to lose out in the competitive market environment. The competitors catch up with it in products and service delivery, disruptors take away the lucrative and niche market positioning, or management ends up sitting on its own laurels thus missing out on the new trends, opportunities and developments in the industry.

What are the John P. Kotter - 8 Steps of Change Management?

Eight Steps of Kotter's Change Management Execution are -

• 1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
• 2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
• 3. Create a Vision
• 4. Communicate the Vision
• 5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision
• 6. Plan for and Create Short Term Wins
• 7. Consolidate Improvements and Produce More Change
• 8. Institutionalize New Approaches

Are Change Management efforts easy to implement? What are the challenges in implementing change management processes?

According to authorlist Change management efforts are absolutely essential for the surviving and thriving of the organization but they are also extremely difficult to implement. Some of the biggest obstacles in implementing change efforts are –

• Change efforts are often made by new leaders because they are chosen by board to do so. These leaders often have less trust among the workforce compare to the people with whom they were already working with over the years.
• Change management is often a lengthy, time consuming, and resource consuming process. Managements try to avoid them because they reflect negatively on the short term financial balance sheet of the organization.
• Change efforts are often targeted at making fundamental aspects in the business – operations and culture. Change management disrupts are status quo thus face opposition from both within and outside the organization.
• Change efforts create an environment of uncertainty in the organization that impacts not only the productivity in the organization but also the level of trust in the organization.
• Change management efforts are made when the organization is in dire need and have fewer resources. This creates silos protection mentality within the organization.

AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, Weighted SWOT Case Study Solution & Analysis

How you can apply Change Management Principles to AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 case study?

Leaders can implement Change Management efforts in the organization by following the “Eight Steps Method of Change Management” by John P. Kotter.

Step 1 - Establish a sense of urgency

What are areas that require urgent change management efforts in the “ AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 “ case study. Some of the areas that require urgent changes are – organizing sales force to meet competitive realities, building new organizational structure to enter new markets or explore new opportunities. The leader needs to convince the managers that the status quo is far more dangerous than the change efforts.

Step 2 - Form a powerful guiding coalition

As mentioned earlier in the paper, most change efforts are undertaken by new management which has far less trust in the bank compare to the people with whom the organization staff has worked for long period of time. New leaders need to tap in the talent of the existing managers and integrate them in the change management efforts . This will for a powerful guiding coalition that not only understands the urgency of the situation but also has the trust of the employees in the organization. If the team able to explain at the grass roots level what went wrong, why organization need change, and what will be the outcomes of the change efforts then there will be a far more positive sentiment about change efforts among the rank and file.

Step 3 - Create a vision

The most critical role of the leader who is leading the change efforts is – creating and communicating a vision that can have a broader buy-in among employees throughout the organization. The vision should not only talk about broader objectives but also about how every little change can add up to the improvement in the overall organization.

Step 4 - Communicating the vision

Leaders need to use every vehicle to communicate the desired outcomes of the change efforts and how each employee impacted by it can contribute to achieve the desired change. Secondly the communication efforts need to answer a simple question for employees – “What it is in for the them”. If the vision doesn’t provide answer to this question then the change efforts are bound to fail because it won’t have buy-in from the required stakeholders of the organization.

Step 5 -Empower other to act on the vision

Once the vision is set and communicated, change management leadership should empower people at every level to take decisions regarding the change efforts. The empowerment should follow two key principles – it shouldn’t be too structured that it takes away improvisation capabilities of the managers who are working on the fronts. Secondly it shouldn’t be too loosely defined that people at the execution level can take it away from the desired vision and objectives.

AirAsia Faces a Major Crisis: The Loss of QZ8501 PESTEL / PEST / STEP & Porter Five Forces Analysis

Step 6 - Plan for and create short term wins

Initially the change efforts will bring more disruption then positive change because it is transforming the status quo. For example new training to increase productivity initially will lead to decrease in level of current productivity because workers are learning new skills and way of doing things. It can demotivate the employees regarding change efforts. To overcome such scenarios the change management leadership should focus on short term wins within the long term transformation. They should carefully craft short term goals, reward employees for achieving short term wins, and provide a comprehensive understanding of how these short term wins fit into the overall vision and objectives of the change management efforts.

Step 7 - Consolidate improvements and produce more change

Short term wins lead to renewed enthusiasm among the employees to implement change efforts. Management should go ahead to put a framework where the improvements made so far are consolidated and more change efforts can be built on the top of the present change efforts.

Step 8 - Institutionalize new approaches

Once the improvements are consolidated, leadership needs to take steps to institutionalize the processes and changes that are made. It needs to stress how the change efforts have delivered success in the desired manner. It should highlight the connection between corporate success and new behaviour. Finally organization management needs to create organizational structure, leadership, and performance plans consistent with the new approach.

Is change management a process or event?

What many leaders and managers at the Airasia Qz8501 fails to recognize is that – Change Management is a deliberate and detail oriented process rather than an event where the management declares that the changes it needs to make in the organization to thrive. Change management not only impact the operational processes of the organization but also the cultural and integral values of the organization.

MBA Admission help, MBA Assignment Help, MBA Case Study Help, Online Analytics Live Classes

Previous change management solution.

• Balancing Stakeholder Interests at the Indonesian Railways Change Management Solution
• Vector (B): Labour Negotiations at Maxime Platform Change Management Solution
• Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Change Management Solution
• Austal, Ltd. B Change Management Solution
• Strategic Entrepreneurship in Emerging Market Multinationals: Marco Polo Marine Change Management Solution

Next 5 Change Management Solution

• Dalian Airport's Alliance Management Dilemma Change Management Solution
• On Two Wheels in Paris: The Velib' Bicycle-Sharing Program Change Management Solution
• Sea Change: Rewriting the Rules for Port Security Change Management Solution
• Ford Motor Company: New Shades of Green Through Soy Foam Change Management Solution
• Ransom on the High Seas: The Case of Piracy in Somalia Change Management Solution

Special Offers

Order custom Harvard Business Case Study Analysis & Solution. Starting just $19

Amazing Business Data Maps. Send your data or let us do the research. We make the greatest data maps.

We make beautiful, dynamic charts, heatmaps, co-relation plots, 3D plots & more.

Buy Professional PPT templates to impress your boss

Nobody get fired for buying our Business Reports Templates. They are just awesome.

• More Services

Feel free to drop us an email

• fernfortuniversity[@]gmail.com
• (000) 000-0000

Advertisement

Supported by

Dubai’s Extraordinary Flooding: Here’s What to Know

Images of a saturated desert metropolis startled the world, prompting talk of cloud seeding, climate change and designing cities for intensified weather.

• Share full article

By Raymond Zhong

Scenes of flood-ravaged neighborhoods in one of the planet’s driest regions have stunned the world this week. Heavy rains in the United Arab Emirates and Oman submerged cars, clogged highways and killed at least 21 people. Flights out of Dubai’s airport, a major global hub, were severely disrupted.

The downpours weren’t a freak event — forecasters anticipated the storms several days out and issued warnings. But they were certainly unusual. Here’s what to know.

Heavy rain there is rare, but not unheard-of.

On average, the Arabian Peninsula receives a scant few inches of rain a year, although scientists have found that a sizable chunk of that precipitation falls in infrequent but severe bursts, not as periodic showers.

U.A.E. officials said the 24-hour rain total on Tuesday was the country’s largest since records there began in 1949 . But parts of the nation had experienced an earlier round of thunderstorms just last month.

Oman, with its coastline on the Arabian Sea, is also vulnerable to tropical cyclones. Past storms there have brought torrential rain, powerful winds and mudslides, causing extensive damage.

Global warming is projected to intensify downpours.

Stronger storms are a key consequence of human-caused global warming. As the atmosphere gets hotter, it can hold more moisture, which can eventually make its way down to the earth as rain or snow.

But that doesn’t mean rainfall patterns are changing in precisely the same way across every corner of the globe.

In their latest assessment of climate research , scientists convened by the United Nations found there wasn’t enough data to have firm conclusions about rainfall trends in the Arabian Peninsula and how climate change was affecting them. The researchers said, however, that if global warming were to be allowed to continue worsening in the coming decades, extreme downpours in the region would quite likely become more intense and more frequent.

The role of cloud seeding isn’t clear.

The U.A.E. has for decades worked to increase rainfall and boost water supplies by seeding clouds. Essentially, this involves shooting particles into clouds to encourage the moisture to gather into larger, heavier droplets, ones that are more likely to fall as rain or snow.

Cloud seeding and other rain-enhancement methods have been tried across the world, including in Australia, China, India, Israel, South Africa and the United States. Studies have found that these operations can, at best, affect precipitation modestly — enough to turn a downpour into a bigger downpour, but probably not a drizzle into a deluge.

Still, experts said pinning down how much seeding might have contributed to this week’s storms would require detailed study.

“In general, it is quite a challenge to assess the impact of seeding,” said Luca Delle Monache, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. Dr. Delle Monache has been leading efforts to use artificial intelligence to improve the U.A.E.’s rain-enhancement program.

An official with the U.A.E.’s National Center of Meteorology, Omar Al Yazeedi, told news outlets this week that the agency didn’t conduct any seeding during the latest storms. His statements didn’t make clear, however, whether that was also true in the hours or days before.

Mr. Al Yazeedi didn’t respond to emailed questions from The New York Times on Thursday, and Adel Kamal, a spokesman for the center, didn’t immediately have further comment.

Cities in dry places just aren’t designed for floods.

Wherever it happens, flooding isn’t just a matter of how much rain comes down. It’s also about what happens to all that water once it’s on the ground — most critically, in the places people live.

Cities in arid regions often aren’t designed to drain very effectively. In these areas, paved surfaces block rain from seeping into the earth below, forcing it into drainage systems that can easily become overwhelmed.

One recent study of Sharjah , the capital of the third-largest emirate in the U.A.E., found that the city’s rapid growth over the past half century had made it vulnerable to flooding at far lower levels of rain than before.

Omnia Al Desoukie contributed reporting.

Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times. More about Raymond Zhong

What caused Dubai floods? Experts cite climate change, not cloud seeding

• Medium Text

DID CLOUD SEEDING CAUSE THE STORM?

CAN'T CREATE CLOUDS FROM NOTHING

Coming soon: Get the latest news and expert analysis about the state of the global economy with Reuters Econ World. Sign up here.

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Maha El Dahan and Alexandra Hudson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

The European Parliament approved rules on Tuesday to give consumers the right to have worn-out products like washing machines and smartphones repaired by producers, to cut waste and make goods last longer.

Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining said on Tuesday it would cooperate with authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo after radiation was detected in a shipment of cobalt from its mine in the country, and had recalled it.

World Chevron

Western intelligence prevented at least 10 jihadist attacks across Europe last year and the current war between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas has increased the threat of further attacks, Dutch intelligence agency AIVD said on Tuesday.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on Tuesday it had launched a drone attack targeting Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest attack into Israeli territory since the Gaza war began.