Orla Graham, insights consultant at CARMA, sets out the learnings for the aviation industry from its recent Airlines Reputation Report analysis
The aviation industry faced a challenging year in 2024, marked by IT outages, extreme weather, and rising operational pressures.
Despite passenger numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels, airlines face a perfect storm of reputational risks, intensified by the speed and reach of social media.
In this environment, protecting a brand’s reputation requires more than traditional crisis management – it demands a proactive, data-driven strategy.
Recent analysis from CARMA reveals that financial results, flight experiences, and airline rankings are critical factors shaping consumer decisions when choosing an airline.
With reputational risks higher than ever, relying on siloed data analysis isn’t enough. Airlines must embrace a unified approach that synthesises insights from news media, social media, and audience research.
This integration empowers communication teams to craft strategic responses that mitigate fallout, rebuild trust, and even strengthen brand loyalty.
By leveraging the power of data, airlines can turn moments of turbulence into opportunities for connection, ensuring they not only recover from crises but also soar above the competition.
From crisis to control
Over the past year, the airline sector has been placed under greater scrutiny. From IT system failures over the summer, flooding in Dubai and French strikes that brought flights to a halt, the industry’s reputation has been severely tested.
In addition, shortages in staffing at Cathay Pacific, a turbulence incident involving Singapore Airlines, and a series of difficulties at Boeing all demonstrate just how difficult it is to protect a company’s image in the modern era.
Airlines now face immense pressure to keep pace with emerging technologies, resolve operational problems, and manage increasing congestion.
Social media has fundamentally changed the way positive and negative opinion spreads. Since travel often evokes strong emotions, when difficulties arise, travellers are quick to voice their frustrations online.
This torrent of feedback makes it harder for airlines to shape public perception—yet it also presents valuable opportunities for rapid intervention and more agile responses.
How carriers respond to challenges can have a long-term impact on customer loyalty and advocacy.
For instance, the turbulence issue on a Singapore Airlines flight showed that neutral or even positive media coverage can be maintained following a crisis.
In that case, the airline escaped blame and its response earned commendation.
In contrast, Cathay Pacific’s problems with cancellations and delays, attributed to staffing shortfalls, were viewed as the result of poor planning and inadequate investment, prompting less understanding and support from the public.
Understanding what passengers really care about
To better understand what customers really care about, we carried out our Airlines Reputation Report.
Products and services were the biggest driver of traditional and social media and the most influential factor in people’s opinions of a company’s reputation.
Data from CMAC Group highlights that 46% of UK travellers alone claimed flight delays or cancellations, along with the airline’s service, would prevent them from travelling with the same airline again in the future.
Social media conversations in these areas provide airlines with an invaluable source of real-time feedback.
Consider X, formerly known as Twitter, which sees thousands of airline brand mentions daily.
This volume of commentary can serve as a valuable indicator of public sentiment, as long as it is carefully scrutinised to extract meaningful insights.
Tracking and interpreting these discussions requires both technological tools and skilled analysts, enabling airlines to pinpoint evolving customer expectations and reveal genuine areas of dissatisfaction.
Our recommended approach enables airlines to identify shifts in sentiment by bringing together analysis of social media exchanges, audience research and earned media reports.
This approach not only delivers a snapshot of current opinion, but also generates actionable insights for communications teams, helping them refine their strategies before issues intensify.
By consolidating and contextualising data from various sources, airlines can move beyond simply responding to digital chatter, and instead take proactive steps to manage their reputations more effectively.
Unified data strategies for reputation management
The real advantage for improving proactive strategies can be driven by harnessing data-driven insights.
By examining mentions across social media, customer feedback platforms and earned media outlets, airlines can consolidate these inputs into comprehensive, real-time analysis that illuminate shifts in public sentiment.
This coordinated approach helps communications teams anticipate potential reputation hurdles and ensures that their core messages continue to resonate with their intended audiences.
Although thorough planning and preparation are crucial, certain challenges—such as extreme weather—are inevitably beyond anyone’s control.
Consequently, PR and communications teams must remain proactive, flexible, and transparent to respond swiftly and effectively. There is no universal blueprint.
Real-time crisis analysis, bolstered by diverse data sources, enables brands to address stakeholder concerns more effectively.
It is not merely about collecting data; it is about interpreting that data to forecast issues and communicate more successfully.
Given the rise of social media and misinformation, crisis communication now extends well beyond simply engaging with the media and customers.
Businesses must also consider regulators, various audiences, investors, and their own workforce when shaping narratives.
For example, if social media mentions begin to surge around a delayed flight or a policy change, this method allows airlines to see the broader context, understanding not only the overall sentiment but also the specific complaints being voiced.
With these insights at hand, communications teams can swiftly deliver targeted messages and adjust their strategies to mitigate reputational risks.
Adapting comms to modern challenges
Airlines can move beyond a defensive stance to a more forward-looking reputation strategy by harnessing the wealth of insights gleaned from analysing online articles, social media posts, and audience research.
Instead of waiting for grievances to reach the news, carriers can anticipate potential problems and show customers that they value their feedback.
By integrating a data-driven approach, airlines can craft and control their narrative in a crowded, highly competitive landscape.
Rigorous research helps them detect emerging trends, tackle recurring issues, and measure the effectiveness of their communication efforts.
By recognising and addressing persistent challenges, airlines prove their ongoing dedication to improving the passenger experience, ultimately building a brand that customers trust and enthusiastically endorse.
Building trust through proactive improvements
Safeguarding a brand’s reputation goes beyond crisis management – it’s about building trust and fostering loyalty that can weather even the toughest challenges.
Airlines that take a forward-looking, data-driven approach to reputation management can turn consumer opinion into meaningful action, mitigating the effects of negative events while amplifying positive experiences.
By integrating insights from social media, news coverage, and audience research, airlines can develop communication strategies that not only address current passengers but also engage wider audiences.
This approach empowers airlines to identify potential issues early, connect with stakeholders effectively, and make decisions that reflect passenger priorities.
In a fast-paced and highly visible industry, staying ahead of reputational risks requires constant vigilance.
Leveraging advanced technology to track sentiment and stakeholder opinions allows airlines to strengthen relationships, creating a foundation of loyalty that endures through disruptions and reinforces their commitment to exceptional service.
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