What Can We Learn From Ethiopian Airlines Crisis Communication Strategy?
The Sunday 10th March 2019 was a heavy day for humanity. We woke up to sad news of the tragic accident involved the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis to Nairobi that claimed the lives of 157 people on board. 30 nations mourned, hundreds of families lost their beloved ones, thousands lost their friends and colleagues. In short it was very devastating.
Just like the rest of the world, with a state of dismay, I followed up closely the events as unfolded after the news of the accident came out. Within no times we were bashed and washed by barrage information and analysis about the technical aspects of the equipment involved Boeing 737–800 Max. Some of us never knew about this type of aircraft and the technical details involved. As a communication expert, my interest was to observe closely the communication side of the tragedy and how best Ethiopian Airlines could respond effectively and in timely fashion in such a trying time.
I must admit I was so impressed with the way they responded to and managed the crisis. Amidst pressure and panic, the company displayed three key attributes; they have been very responsive, very composed and very consistent.
Timing is of essence in responding to crisis particularly the one appealing to public attention. In this, Ethiopian Airline has been very responsive. Not only that they responded fast, but also, responded information on time and in right sequence. So far, they have issued about 6 accident bulletins, each one sharing critical and clear information building on the previous one. They made sure they did not communicate too much or too low, too soon or too late. Such delicacy in itself requires its own mastery.
The airline tried its best to ensure calmness. There was a gap of time between the issuance of information about the accident and that of confirming deaths. As well as, communicating nationalities of passengers involved and announcing of the call centres and information desk. Soon after, we witnessed the CEO of the Airline at the scene. That was reassuring indeed. They went further to change their logo on social media platforms to black and white, and put the hotline numbers as their profile picture particularly on Twitter and Facebook.
Public was not left to wonder as information were supplied on time and helped a lot in avoiding speculations, distortions and disruptions of the social media. Besides, Ethiopian Airline managed to project in strongest term that people matter most to them than business. They spoke less of the technical issues, which became topic thereafter. They responded to emotions first and not the technical facts. They communicated more about the deceased and about reassuring relatives and friends of the dignity of their loved ones. The statement released about the decision to ground all Boeing 737–8MAX was indeed a plus and showed that for them, safety comes first.
We all know that responding quickly is not enough neither necessarily effective. The Ethiopian Airlines has been very composed in communicating throughout. In this aspect, approach matters. At all times, Ethiopian Arline made sure they instil confidence and showed they were in control of events. They issued 6 bulletins but of interest to me is not the number of bulletins they issued, rather how they were choreographed and sequenced. Three things were distinguished in a way they communicated the detail of the accident.
First, they stated that the airplane was brand new delivered to them by Boeing in October 2018; second, without getting into detail or blame game, they mentioned the equipment involved to be Boeing 737–8 MAX. Third, the Pilot involved was senior, very experienced with cumulative flight time of more than 8000 hours and with a commendable performance. Moreover, they hinted that the flight had just arrived safely from Johannesburg before its fateful trip to Nairobi.
These key information tactically distanced the Ethiopian Airline with the direct public attack over the accident. They at least silenced the immediate speculation that the accident was caused by either the inexperienced pilot or poor state of aircraft. With such assurance and composure, the debate online shifted to discuss the accident in connection with the previous similar equipment took place 5 month earlier in Indonesia. The airline has been smart enough not to get at this debate at all. The only part they spoke about the airplane is to assure public that they have formed a joint investigation team that involved industry wide experts from both home and abroad.
The game changing in all this was the decision to ground all of their Boeing 737–800 Max along side many other countries such as Morocco, Mauritania, the EU, China, UK and Australia. These responses to the accident shifted the conversation and debate.
Any effective communication strategy has its own objectives and KPIs . During crisis one of the objective, is to neutralise the situation mostly the public opinion. No doubt, the shift of conversation from safety of Ethiopia Airline to the safety of Boeing aircrafts responded well with the KPI of Ethiopian Airlines crisis communication strategy.
Another aspect worthy our applause is the way they handle and engage with public through the social media. Ethiopian Airlines did not respond to attempts by some Western media houses trying to taint the image of the airline perhaps in favour of Boeing. They capitalized on sympathy across the world, solidarity from Africa and testimonies of those who flew with Ethiopian Airline who stood witness that despite the accident, things were back to normal and on course. All together, it made the accident been seen as an isolated and unfortunate case and not enough to make passengers lose confidence with the airline.
There is no doubt this has been a learning journey to the airline, it was a big test to its crisis management and crisis communication strategy. During the crisis, the airline made good use of their twitter and Facebook accounts, both channels had a new logo that reflected the mood of the time, which was mourning. However, the mourning logo was not changed on the website neither on Instagram. In the future they may wish to have a temporary website dedicated to tragedy which will be more informative and easy to access. They may wish to pay attention and improve their ability to communicate across on all platforms, it is important to appreciate and understand each platforms is unique and attracts different people.
After all said and done, Ethiopia Airline deserves applause for effective management and execution of its communication strategy during the crisis. It has made them even stronger and surely reliable. Their calmness, responsiveness and consistency have shown a lot of, maturity, strength and clout in the aviation industry. After all, their decision to ground 787–800 MAX has been a huge relief, since my sister and my husband already had their Ethiopian Airlines tickets. Worse enough, in both tickets, they were to take Boeing 737–800 Max to their destinations. The suspension of the flight made them to stick to their plan and avoiding unnecessary switching costs and anxiety. As I write, my sister arrived safely on-board Ethiopian Airlines to her destination.
Once again, I extent my deepest sympathies to the families, loved ones and employers who have been affected with the fatal accident of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302.
#safety #Aviation #airlines #Boeing#marketing #digitalmarketing #sales #socialmedia #business#networking #contentmarketing #socialmediamarketing #investments#communication
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Chaba Rhuwanya, holds a masters degree in Corporate Communication from IE Business School, is an entrepreneur with over 10 years experience in areas of Strategic Communication, Business Development, Relationship Management, and Marketing
