Crisis communication
The case of the airline industry during the COVID-19 pandemic
Marlies Nittmann
Supervisor: Robert Ciuchita
Department of Marketing
Hanken School of Economics
Helsinki
2021
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HANKEN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
Department of: Type of work: Marketing Master’s Thesis
Author: Date: 31.3.2021 Marlies Nittmann Title of thesis: Crisis Communication: The case of the airline industry during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract:
Due to the increasing frequency of crises and the diversification of their causes, a wide range of research has been completed in this field. However, the crisis communication literature has not yet thoroughly covered the topic of public health crises and the corporate communication during such a global event. Further, examples of crisis communication used by companies in particular industries are limited.
Therefore, this thesis studies the crisis communication literature to receive a better understanding of the theory before looking at the corporate communications from four European airline companies. A comparative case study approach is used in order to receive an insight into the communication strategies applied by the aviation industry during a pandemic. A quantitative study is conducted, and the web pages, newsletters and press releases are analysed. Based on the conducted research, six main topics of communication are established and compared to the previous findings of the literature. Even though the four case companies share similar information with their stakeholders, they differ in the way they approach the messages, how they communicate and when they engage with their stakeholders.
This study adds to the crisis communication literature focusing on public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to the literature covering crisis communication in the aviation industry. The findings add to the existing literature by providing explicit examples of how airlines communicate in a pandemic, to allow for future comparison with crisis communication strategies during other crises events.
Keywords: crisis communication, crisis response, situational crisis communication theory, image repair theory, aviation, airline companies, pandemic, COVID-19
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CONTENTS
'1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Research problem ...... 3 1.2 Aim of the study ...... 5 1.3 Delimitations of the study ...... 6 1.4 Key concepts ...... 7 1.5 Structure of the thesis ...... 8 2 Literature review ...... 9 2.1 Definition of crisis ...... 9 2.1.1 Phases of crisis ...... 11 2.1.2 Stakeholders ...... 12 2.1.3 Types of crises...... 13 2.2 Crisis management ...... 14 2.3 Crisis communication ...... 16 2.3.1 Communication model ...... 17 2.3.2 Response strategies ...... 19 2.3.3 Evaluation of crisis communication ...... 23 2.4 Crisis communication in the airline industry ...... 24 2.4.1 The unique situation of the airline industry ...... 25 2.4.2 Crisis communication as a central tool in aviation ...... 26 3 Methodology ...... 28 3.1 Research design ...... 28 3.1.1 Data collection ...... 29 3.1.2 Sampling and accessing data ...... 30 3.2 Data analysis process ...... 33 3.2.1 Coding ...... 33 3.2.2 Abstraction and comparison ...... 35 3.2.3 Dimensionalization and integration ...... 35 3.2.4 Iteration and refutation ...... 36 3.2.5 Cross-case analysis ...... 37 3.3 Quality of the research ...... 38 4 Findings ...... 40 4.1 Status quo ...... 42 4.1.1 Cargo ...... 42 4.1.2 Effect on the company ...... 42 4.1.3 Impact on the industry ...... 43 4.1.4 Operations ...... 43 iii
4.1.5 State support ...... 44 4.2 Emotional ...... 46 4.3 Future of aviation...... 49 4.3.1 Reopening ...... 49 4.3.2 Future changes ...... 50 4.3.3 Predictions ...... 50 4.4 Responsibility to the stakeholders ...... 54 4.4.1 Collaboration ...... 54 4.4.2 Community service ...... 55 4.4.3 Company dedication ...... 55 4.4.4 Medical shipments ...... 56 4.4.5 Role of the airline ...... 56 4.4.6 Needs of customers ...... 56 4.4.7 Repatriation ...... 57 4.5 Travel safety ...... 60 4.5.1 Cleaning ...... 60 4.5.2 HEPA filters ...... 60 4.5.3 Hygiene & health measures ...... 60 4.5.4 Masks ...... 61 4.5.5 Pilot training ...... 61 4.5.6 Safety ...... 61 4.5.7 Social distancing ...... 62 4.5.8 Recommendations to customers ...... 62 4.5.9 Temperature check ...... 63 4.6 New and adjusted services ...... 66 4.6.1 Additional services to customers ...... 66 4.6.2 Capped fares ...... 66 4.6.3 Communication with passengers ...... 67 4.6.4 Delay in service ...... 67 4.6.5 Flight cancellation ...... 67 4.6.6 Service expansion ...... 68 4.6.7 Vouchers & reimbursement ...... 68 4.6.8 Website references ...... 69 5 Discussion ...... 70 5.1 Key findings ...... 70 5.2 Theoretical contributions ...... 73 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for future research ...... 74 REFERENCES ...... 75 iv
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Chronological overview of the types of crises according to literature ...... 93
TABLES
Table 1: SCCT Crisis response typology, (Coombs, 2007c as cited in Brown et al., 2015) ...... 21 Table 2: Overview of case companies ...... 32 Table 3: Dimensionalization based on Spiggle (1994) ...... 36 Table 4: Quality of the data (adapted from Wallendorf & Belk, 1989) ...... 39
FIGURES
Figure 1: Categories used in coding of newsletters, press releases and websites...... 34 Figure 2: Steps followed during the analysis process...... 37 Figure 3: Data structure Status quo ...... 41 Figure 4: Data structure Emotional ...... 45 Figure 5: Data structure Future of aviation ...... 48 Figure 6: Data structure Responsibility to the stakeholders ...... 53 Figure 7: Data structure Travel safety ...... 59 Figure 8: Data structure New and adjusted services ...... 65
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AAPA Association of Asia Pacific Airlines
ACI Airports Council International
CAPA Centre for Aviation
EASA European Union Aviation Safety Agency
ECDC European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Centre)
FSNC Full-Service Network Carrier
HEPA High Efficiency Particulate Air
IATA International Air Transport Association
IAG International Airlines Group
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation
IMF International Monetary Fund
JHU Johns Hopkins University
MERS Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
SCCT Situational Crisis Communication Theory
WHO World Health Organization
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1 INTRODUCTION
The recent spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more commonly referred to as the COVID-19 outbreak, has affected the majority of countries and business sectors in the world. With approximately 127 million people having been infected, as of March 29 2021, since its outbreak in December 2019 and the number of infected people continuously mounting (JHU, 2020; WHO, 2020), the coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a series of constraints and obstacles. The death toll of the virus has already surpassed both the 2003 SARS and the 2012 MERS outbreak. At the same time, it has presented a bigger economic hurdle than both of the aforementioned virus outbreaks or the aftermath of 9/11 (Wall Street Journal, 2020). Even before COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic by WHO (2020) on 11 March 2020, S&P 500’s market value had plummeted by $5 trillion (Randewich, 2020). The economic impact has already exceeded the GDP decline on an annual basis of the global financial crisis in 2008 three times and no end to the pandemic can yet be expected in the foreseeable future (United Nations, 2020).
This is especially true for the air transportation sector (Nižetić, 2020) due to the fact that in a globalized world airlines depend on the movement of goods and people which is currently being restricted in order to contain the pandemic (IATA, 2020b). Due to the travel restrictions, at its peak up to one third of all airplanes was grounded, many airlines expect to have large parts of their fleet out of service up until 2022 (Hashimoto, 2020). The predicted long recovery for the air traffic industry and the large difference in traffic numbers, as less than 25 per cent of 2019’s air traffic has been recorded in 2020, are only small indicators of how COVID-19 impacts the airline industry (Parker, 2020). In comparison, in April 2003 during the SARS pandemic, air traffic fell by 18.5 per cent compared to the previous year (Pham, 2020). IATA (2020g) has shared that the passenger business in 2020 will result in a revenue loss of between $63 to $113 billion, with no estimates being available for the cargo sector of the air transport industry. The pandemic has triggered rapid cancellations of flights due to recommendations from authorities or the airlines themselves (Mhalla, 2020), which has not only significantly impacted the airlines but also the travellers. When looking at the number of total daily flights, a slight recovery in the industry can be seen as the restrictions between countries are slowly being reduced, however, the future is still uncertain and with the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise in a number of European countries, the re-opening of the airline industry might be short-lived (Jones et al., 2020). 2
The pandemic has required airlines to react quickly in order to uphold their perceived reputation as trustworthy and credible enterprises (Grundy & Moxon, 2013). To maintain a positive perception in the mind of the stakeholders, communication is crucial, which in turn also requires knowledge of how to handle crises as an international company. In the airline industry, crises and the challenges attached to these very negative events for a company and its stakeholders are regular occurrences. Depending on the type of crisis, the extent of it and the company itself, the communication strategies and expectations of customers and other affected parties differ (Sturges, 1994). Airlines have guidelines set in place in case of crises and staff is trained on how to deal with a variety of issues that could require the company to communicate about an incident to their stakeholders (Finnair, 2019; IATA, n.d.). Therefore, it can be said that like most companies, airlines too have prepared for the most frequent crisis situations they tend to encounter. The most obvious critical situations would include the crisis following an accident of an airplane, an organizational crisis or a weather/environment-related inability to conduct business as usual, as can be seen from the literature (Alexander, 2013; Brajawidagda et al., 2015; Greer & Moreland, 2003).
However, communication in an unprecedented public health crisis requires a thorough, long-time plan on how to keep the stakeholders informed and avoid the crisis to also turn into a reputational one (Grundy & Moxon, 2013). The majority of airlines can be seen using their websites and social media channels to keep the customers updated (e.g., British Airways, 2020; Eurowings, 2020; Finnair, 2020), communicate with their investors (e.g., Lufthansa Group, 2020) and they are in close contact with the local authorities (e.g., Air Canada, 2020). Since the pandemic has brought many unknown variables with it, corporate communication, which is in the control of the companies, is becoming essential to salvage the reputation and trust of stakeholders (van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014). Nevertheless, it is a hard balance to strike between communicating clearly and extensively whilst at the same time not flooding the receivers with information in the volatile, fast-changing world we live in.
This study aims to identify how companies inform and exchange information with their stakeholders in times of crisis. Taking into account the current challenges brought along by the COVID-19 pandemic, the study uses the example of the aviation industry to analyse the communication strategies and their fit for keeping stakeholders informed and upholding the company’s reputation. 3
1.1 Research problem
Crisis communication plays a crucial role in the world of business. Companies are very likely to face a variety of critical situations over the course of their lifecycle. These crises range from a recall of a specific product range to more serious problems like misconduct of employees or even to economic crises (Vos et al., 2011). Being confronted with any of these situations requires the organization to react and start to implement crisis management strategies. A major aspect of crisis management is based on the idea of communicating with the stakeholders to keep them informed about the circumstances the company has to deal with (Stephens et al., 2005). It is evident from the wide range of literature that covers both crisis management and, more specifically, crisis communication that these are topics of interest not only amongst practitioners but also for researchers. The available literature often includes detailed aspects that make up crisis management, such as the types of crises or the characteristics of a specific genre of crisis and then uses a company’s crisis approach to exemplify the effectiveness or possible shortcomings. As an example, Svensson (2009) added to the crisis communication literature by analysing the case of a Swedish tobacco firm with regard to image repair and the effectiveness of their communication strategies.
Based on previous literature, crisis communication has been established to be an essential part of organizations. Moreover, a range of authors has categorized crisis situations into different types (Coombs, 2007d; Coombs & Holladay, 2002; Faulkner, 2001; Scheuren et al., 2008). Whilst Lerbinger (2012) classifies crises into the categories of crises of the physical world, of human climate and of management failure, Mitroff et al. (1987) look at the dimension where a crisis can develop (internal versus external) and the second dimension of responsibility (technical/economic failure versus human/organizational/social process). In this study, the crisis types introduced by Coombs (2014) will be used, since his categorization into three clusters (victim crisis, accidental crisis, preventable cluster) is the most applicable. Public health crises, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, have not been included in the previous categorization by Coombs (2014), nevertheless they present similar characteristics as the victim crisis cluster and will therefore be treated as such in this study. Due to the relative newness of health crises with its global, long-term effects, there is only limited research available. Tan & Enderwick (2006) used the 2003 SARS outbreak as a scenario for contingency planning, Ritchie et al. (2004) provided learnings from the Foot and Mouth disease in the United Kingdom and Liu et al. (2016) looked at how Noroviruses affected the crisis communication needed in the cruise industry. However, due to the difference in scope 4
and temporal dimension of SARS-CoV-2 the applicability of these findings is limited. This in turn highlights another reason why the topic of crisis communication during COVID-19 is of interest.
Once distinct crisis categories had been discussed, it was found that crisis types needed to be matched with the appropriate communication and response strategy to ensure a positive outcome for the company (Coombs, 2007d). Communication strategies employed by companies are adaptable to the respective crisis and company. The elements of the strategy, for example the message shared, the target audience, the frequency of communication or the selected channel impact the reception of the crisis communication and thereby its effectiveness (Ruggiero, 2016).
As mentioned above, the literature found that matching the communication strategy to the crisis type is essential, highlighting thereby the need to understand an industry and its challenges. For example, the aviation industry, as evident from past research, is well prepared to communicate to customers during times of crisis such as airplane crashes, disappearances or technical problems (Advisen Ltd., 2012; Grundy & Moxon, 2013; Kao et al., 2020). This is not surprising, since aircraft-related incidents are more common than economic crises that reach the extent of the 2008/2009 financial crisis. Therefore, the past literature has focused on the communication plans that are put in place by airlines (IATA, 2020c; Greer & Moreland, 2003; Grundy & Moxon, 2013). However, there is only limited research that has considered the impact of previous epidemics, such as SARS or Ebola, on the aviation industry. With the current pandemic still developing, it is obvious that the little research that is available on crisis communication in pandemics is of limited use due to the rapid and extensive spread of the new virus. In addition, the communication strategies implemented when the company is at fault differ substantially to the strategies needed in the event of a public health crisis. Based on the lack of literature focusing on crisis communication in a health crisis and the diverse restrictions affecting the industry, a clear research gap concerning aviation crisis communication in epidemics has become apparent.
However, a research gap has been spotted related to the communication strategies implemented by airlines that are applied in crisis situations that are atypical for the industry. Due to the novelty of a global crisis of this scope and the uniqueness of the industry, research on crisis communication strategies is yet to be conducted. The literature is currently lacking a comparative analysis that provides an insight into how airline companies communicate during public health crises. It can be expected that the 5
lack is due to the differences between airline companies. These differences can range from their geographic area of operation, the corporate culture or even the past reputation associated with a company. Fuelled by this lack of research, one of the main focuses of this study is to compare the crisis response messages employed when faced with crises. The literature tends to cover the theoretical principles of crisis response strategies or present a single example per article, yet comparing the crisis communication in similar emergency situations within a specific industry could provide additional insights into the effectiveness of certain strategies in specific crisis situations.
This study focuses on the communication strategies used as a reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, airlines communication strategies are contrasted against one another in order to learn more about the topics they deemed as most crucial for their stakeholders to be aware of. This comparison determines how airlines engage with their customers and which different communication stages the companies go through. The comparison of companies in the same industry is necessary, as depending on the corporate reputation stakeholders respond differently to the crisis communication implemented. By taking a closer look at how airlines communicate in this unprecedented crisis it can be established what the airlines can learn about the optimal crisis communication during health crises.
1.2 Aim of the study
To fill the gaps in previous research, this study aims to better understand how companies communicate during public health crises compared to crises that are more predictable, on a smaller scale and easier to influence. Furthermore, the research is looking to identify what communication strategies, channels and message appeals organizations make use of to overcome various types of crises. Taking these findings into account, this study will give the reader an insight into the more specialized crisis communication used by the airline industry. This allows for a comparison of different airlines’ approaches to critical events, thereby allowing an evaluation of the topics communicated during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The research question of this study has been formulated as follows:
How do European flag carrier airlines’ crisis communication strategies differ in the way they communicate with their external stakeholders during the COVID-19 crisis? 6
1.3 Delimitations of the study
This study concentrates on the communication strategies employed by businesses in times of crisis. A special focus is placed on the selection of communication methods and content by airlines since the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. In order to narrow down the range of this extensive topic, a manageable scope is defined, resulting in the exclusion of certain aspects.
Firstly, the selection of the companies used for the case study was narrowed down to include only European Airlines. With thousands of airlines operating around the globe that are of various sizes and have a wide range of organizational backgrounds, a selection criterion was needed to reduce the number of potential cases. Therefore, the European airline market was chosen as a geographic delimitation. This also ensured that the cultural differences between the companies are more limited (Berkelaar & Dutta, 2007).
The second delimitation, the disregard of airlines who operate solely in the cargo field of aviation, was put in place since the typical passenger as a stakeholder falls away as it is an industry that is more business-to-business focused. Additionally, the cargo industry was impacted differently during the COVID-19 pandemic since travel restrictions did not impact their business model and air cargo was deemed essential in the struggle to overcome the pandemic (Gruber, 2020; IATA, 2020a). In addition, there is a clear distinction in the airline industry between the low-cost carriers (LCCs) and the so-called legacy carriers or full-service network carriers (FSNC). Due to the difference in the business model and their values, the case study companies were selected only from the category of network legacy carriers. This allowed for a better comparison of the case studies and improved the significance of the analysis.
Lastly, the study focused on corporate communication that was published via the companies’ websites rather than their social media channels. Social media communication was excluded from the study even though it can be deemed a useful tool to address the crisis in real-time, however as the study focused on strategic communication strategies the data was gathered from the companies’ websites and press releases available in English. This choice was further validated by the focus on mid- to long-term communication strategies that were made use of by the airlines, which would be covered in more detail on the companies’ websites. 7
1.4 Key concepts
The central concepts of this study are briefly presented to the reader in this section to allow for a better understanding of the topic already before the key literature is introduced. As these definitions form the basis for the following chapters and are derived from the same core literature, similar concepts are also included in the literature review and case study.
Crisis. A crisis is defined as “the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative outcomes” (Coombs, 2007c, pp. 2-3). As the effects of such sudden events can often be negatively felt in all areas of life, companies need to be prepared to survive even in times of economic instability or when their reputation is questioned. By communicating with the people who are impacted by their operations, some negative consequences might be reduced and positive effects can be felt as a result in the future.
Organizational reputation. According to Lange et al. (2011) reputation is based on the behaviour of a company in the past and can influence the relationship that the stakeholders have with the company. An organization’s reputation can easily be changed if information published does not reflect the previous perception by the stakeholders (Lange et al., 2011). In the context of crisis communication, organizational reputation can be negatively impacted by not only the crisis itself but also by the company’s reaction and response strategy, underlining the importance of having suitable communication strategies in place (Grundy & Moxon, 2013).
Corporate communication. The term communication is defined as “the process by which messages or information are sent from one place or person to another, or the message itself” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). Based on the communication model introduced by Shannon & Weaver (1964), communication consists of the sender who wants to send a message to a receiver. In order for the message to reach the receiver the right channel has to be selected and it is hoped that the amount of distractions (“noise”) does not impact the message’s transmission (Shannon & Weaver, 1964). Corporate communication, to be more specific, is the sum of all communication efforts by a company targeted at the stakeholders that are essential for the company’s operation (van Riel & Fombrun, 2007, p. 25). The stakeholders, therefore, hold the central position in corporate communication as they are the reason the company even communicates. 8
Especially in crisis situations, they are the people affected by the crisis and hence are looking towards the companies for information, guidance or explanation (Benoit, 1997).
Full-Service Network Carriers (FSNC). In the aviation industry, there is a clear distinction between two types of airline companies. Airlines that make use of low-cost structures and therefore focus on a limited amount of popular destinations, are referred to as low-cost carriers and are most famously represented by Ryanair and EasyJet (DLR, 2008). On the other hand, there are the airline companies that are referred to as legacy or FSNCs. These airlines are oriented towards providing a range of pre-flight and onboard services, often operating on a hub-and-spoke model (DLR, 2008). FSNCs, also known as flag carriers, are in many cases connecting the world with their home country. Examples of legacy carriers are Air France-KLM and Austrian Airlines (DLR, 2008).
1.5 Structure of the thesis
This thesis is divided into five sections. First, the reader is introduced to the topic in order to provide an insight into the context and motivation behind the study. Following the introductory chapter, the next section highlights the theoretical background of crisis management and crisis communication, including a categorization of crisis types and communication strategies used by businesses. Once the general crisis communication literature has been covered, the study takes a closer look at the unique position the airline industry finds itself in.
The third chapter discusses the research methodology. This part includes a justification for the used method and the approaches selected for collecting data for this study. In chapter four, the empirical findings from the data collection and case study are discussed. Finally, the last segment of the study is reserved for the conclusion as well as theoretical and practical implications. In addition, possible limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed to conclude the study. 9
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
The following chapter presents the available literature on crisis communication and is divided into five segments. The first section covers the term “crisis” and reviews the types, phases and characteristics of crises according to previous literature. Then, literature on the topic of crisis management and its subcategory of crisis communication will be covered. In the fourth segment, the specific situation of crisis communication in the airline industry will be looked at.
2.1 Definition of crisis
The literature on the topics of crisis management and crisis communication presents a wide range of definitions for the term “crisis”. Due to the rising frequency of crisis situations (Brasseur & Forgues, 2002) and the approximately 70 years of research on the topic, many authors have covered the topic, also including their descriptions of what a crisis entails. Coombs (2007a; 2007b) defined a crisis as a non-routine event that has the potential to significantly negatively impact the operations of an entity. According to Pearson & Clair (1998, p. 60) a crisis is a “low-probability, high-impact event that threatens the viability of the organization”. Furthermore, Fink (1986) saw crises as an opportunity, saying that it brings with it a necessary change, that can lead to a better or less desirable outcome depending on the company’s actions. There is a wide range of definitions for the term crisis, however, they are all based on similar features. The common words to describe crises revolve around: unexpected, uncertain, sudden, unusual, disrupting, demanding quick reaction, major impact on an entity (Coombs, 2018; Dutton, 1986; Fearn-Banks, 1996; Millar 2003, cited in Millar & Heath, 2003).
The effect such an unexpected event can have is not limited to a specific area of life. Crises can impact not only the viability of a firm (Glaeßer, 2005), but they also often negatively impact land, destroy property or threaten lives (Stephens et al., 2005). Whilst some critical situations severely impact the economy, a whole industry or an area of the world, depending on the scale of the event, a company might be faced with reputational problems, loss of trust from the stakeholders or plummeting profits (Coombs, 2018; Fall & Massey, 2005; Fearn-Banks, 2001, cited in Ma, 2018). Therefore, it is important for companies to be prepared to react to crises in a time-sensitive manner in order to try to avoid the worst possible outcome by making use of adequate crisis communication (Guth, 1995). 10
Examples of past crises range from wars to environmental disasters such as Hurricane Katrina to airplane crashes, each of them impacting different areas of business and life (Glaeßer, 2005). These examples are representing a wide variety of types of crises, yet they all exhibit similar characteristics. Even though no set list of characteristics exists, the literature includes an extensive array of terms that authors deem that should be used to ascertain if an event can be considered as a crisis. According to Seeger et al. (1998) most crises have three elements in common. They bring with them a threat for the organization, are unexpected and leave only a short time to make decisions (Seeger et al., 1998). Fink (1986) also includes the fact that a critical situation often entails the company being subject to scrutiny from the consumers, media or even the government. For Brewton (1987) an event is made up of only two crucial characteristics in order to be deemed a crisis. On the one hand a crisis involves putting company assets or customers in danger or at the risk of damage. On the other hand, the urgency with which the event unravels and the company has to react, is an essential part of a crisis (Brewton, 1987).
Aside from the more immediate properties, crises are also characterised as bringing long-term transformations with them (Boin & Lagadec, 2000). Not only do unprecedented happenings often uncover a lack of preparedness, for example inadequate crisis communication, but they frequently also act as a turning point for companies, forcing them to make quick decisions about the modus operandi (Wiener & Kahn, 1972 cited in Keown-McMullan, 1997). Moreover, the lack of accurate information demands a high degree of adaptability and further strains the relationship with external as well as internal stakeholders (Boin & Lagadec, 2000; Wiener & Kahn, 1972 cited in Keown-McMullan, 1997).
Knowing how to handle a crisis situation can be the deciding factor on how a company continues its business after the event has occurred. Preparedness is essential to handle an unprecedented, sudden happening in a way that limits the harm to the reputation of the organization (Ritchie, 2004). Even though it is impossible to foresee the exact scope of a crisis event, planning for possible critical situations by having crisis management strategies in place, allows for a faster adaptation to the new circumstances (Pearson & Clair, 1998). It is recommended by the literature to think through possible scenarios and appoint responsible people who can take charge of the crisis response (Benoit, 1997). The probability of being able to apply these exact preparations is small, however by keeping contingency plans updated and adapting them to the current situation returns an aspect of controllability to the company’s sphere (Lee B. K., 2004). 11
To show how important crisis preparedness is, the literature often uses the example of Exxon’s reaction to the Valdez accident in comparison to Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol tampering (Benoit, 1997; Mitroff et al., 1996). When the Exxon Valdez ran aground an undersea reef in Alaska in 1989, Exxon responded in a slow manner to the oil spill, further harming its reputation after the initial incident (Benoit, 1997; Mauer, 1989). In comparison to the Valdez incident, Johnson & Johnson was very open and invested in communicating with the stakeholders about the tampering of Tylenol products that occurred in 1982, resulting in the company being seen as trustworthy and saving its reputation in the eyes of the consumers (Brasseur & Forgues, 2002; Pearson & Clair, 1998). Drawing from this comparison, it becomes obvious why being able to respond to an unexpected crisis and having a crisis communication strategy in place is crucial for the organizational performance (Fall & Massey, 2005).
2.1.1 Phases of crisis
Crises are diverse and one hardly follows the same sequence as another, nevertheless Fink (1986), amongst others, examined the stages that crises typically go through. There is a discrepancy between the authors about the actual number of steps a crisis situation goes through. Darling et al. (2005) based their four-phase sequence on Fink’s (1986) work and elaborated on the importance of the different stages. They suggested that crises first evolve through the prodromal crisis stage, where the first warning signs appear and if acted upon, can help reduce the scale of the crisis (Darling et al., 2005). This stage is equivalent to the pre-crisis stage as suggested by Coombs (2010; 2018) who is one of the authors using a three-phase approach. It is especially important in this stage to alert and identify developing crises as early as possible, similar to when humans are in the early stages of an illness, it can still be prevented or at least treated better (Fink, 1986).
The second stage according to Coombs (2010) is the actual crisis. In Darling et al.’s (2005) four-step approach it is referred to as the “acute crisis stage”. However, yet again, both strategies define the phase and the required actions in a very similar way. During this stage of the crisis, the focus is on recognising that a critical situation is unfolding and adapting the communication to stakeholders accordingly (Coombs, 2018). The major focus is to get through the event as quickly and unharmed as possible, which is facilitated by the existence of appropriate contingency plans and communication strategies (Edworthy et al., 2015; Fink, 1986). Once the peak of the crisis is overcome, phase three, the chronic crisis stage, follows. This stage is not explicitly included in Coombs’ three- step crisis sequence (Coombs, 2018). The stage is characterized by the slowing down of 12
the crisis, a slow recovery process begins while the critical situation is not overcome entirely yet (Fink, 1986).
The final stage, the post-crisis phase according to Coombs (2010), or the crisis resolution stage (Fink, 1986), highlights the end of the crisis. This phase is marked by the organization returning to a new normal and drawing learnings from their actions during the crisis (Coombs, 2018). The literature emphasizes the importance of analysing the crisis preparedness of a company and adapt the crisis management in order to be able to better handle a future crisis (Coombs, 2010; Fink, 1986; Lando, 2014). The goal for all entities should be to reach the final phase and use their resources as well as possible to survive without negatively affecting the relationships with their stakeholders (Keown- McMullan, 1997; Lando, 2014). During each of the stages different strategies should be applied by the company to properly respond to the needs of the stakeholders and once a crisis has subsided, focusing on the learnings is crucial. Mitroff (1994) even emphasized the importance of the learnings by adding a separate stage for this important phase.
2.1.2 Stakeholders
Freeman (1984) highlighted the role that stakeholders play for a company and emphasized the impact they have on the operation of organizations. Especially in crisis situations, the relationship with the various stakeholder groups is critical and requires detailed preparations to ensure the safeguarding of the organization’s reputation (Benoit, 1997). Stakeholder groups can range from internal stakeholders such as employees and management to external stakeholders like the government, consumers or the media (Fassin, 2009). Every one of these groups has different interests, as well as a different level of involvement with the company (Petty et al., 1983), which results in the need for the organization to think about the communication with the groups on an individual basis (Benoit, 1997).
The stakeholder groups, with their different needs and interests, differ in what they are expecting from a company’s communication in a critical situation (Benoit, 1997). For an organization this means that often different messages have to be developed for each group, whilst at the same time ensuring that the communication in general is consistent (Civelek et al., 2016). In this case, it further has to be decided, which group of stakeholders is deemed most important and therefore has to be communicated to first (Benoit, 1997). Jin et al. (2007) introduced three criteria in order to establish who the primary public should be. They looked at who is the most affected, who shares a common 13
interest and whether that group has an influence on the reputation and modus operandi of the organization (Jin et al., 2012). Based on these criteria it is then decided who to treat as the common stakeholder group and in what order of importance the company should treat them. Another important aspect is the frequency and quality of the messages provided to the stakeholders, as they too impact the trust that the various groups have towards the organization (Thomas et al., 2009). According to Benoit (1997) it is not necessary to develop a full message for each group, but sometimes it is also sufficient to address different paragraphs of a message to stakeholders with different interests.
2.1.3 Types of crises
For the public, the categorization of crises helps them to understand and interpret the happenings. Often the types allow the stakeholders involved in any crisis situation to draw parallels to past events and prepare for possible negative implications on their life (Coombs, 2007a). However, for companies, and especially the crisis managers, being able to classify crises not only allows for a better preparation for potential critical situations but it is also crucial to detect the company’s level of responsibility (Kim & Yang, 2009). This further enables the crisis management team to select the best possible crisis communication response.
Due to the number of distinct classifications of critical events, Appendix 1 provides an overview and illustrates the types of crises that have been defined by the literature throughout the past 40 years. It has to be remembered that some of the authors focused on a more organizational scope of crisis (e.g. Greyser, 2009; Meyers & Holusha, 1986 cited in Fall & Massey, 2005), whilst others included all possible crisis scenarios in their work (e.g. Mitroff, 1988, 1997; Pearson & Clair, 1998). Whilst the types are not mutually exclusive, they represent the majority of crisis categories that entities experience (Schwarz et al., 2016).
Kim & Choi (2014) described one way of classifying crisis types based on two criteria. The first element is the control sphere, which indicates that a crisis can be triggered inside the organization or outside of the company’s domain of influence (Kim & Choi, 2014). The second one is the intentionality, looking at whether the event was caused deliberately (Kim & Choi, 2014). Based on these two criteria, a 2x2 matrix is established, splitting crisis situations into the following categories: accident (internal control & unintentional), transgression (internal control & intentional), faux pas (external control & unintentional) and terrorism (external control & intentional) (Kim & Choi, 2014, p. 14
101). This is a very general distinction into four categories, however many other more detailed classifications can be broken down into these four categories, since control and intentionality are major influencing factors in every crisis event. A different approach to the categorization of crises was highlighted by Ahmed (2006). The author split critical events into sudden and unexpected events (“cobra crisis”) versus slow-developing, built- up crisis (“python crisis”) (Ahmed, 2006). In the so-called python crisis, blame is added to the initial crisis and therefore it has more long-lasting effects on the company.
As can be seen from Appendix 1, the range of categories that authors have established to classify crises varies. Some authors such as Schwarz et al. (2016) made use of more general terms and therefore only had five types of crises. On the other hand, Pearson & Clair (1998) produced a 27-category list of different scenarios that can be defined as crisis situations. However, for the purpose of this study, the classification introduced and revised by Coombs (2004; 2007d; 2014) is used to categorize crises. Coombs (2014) split crises into three different clusters depending on the responsibility level of the company. The first group of crises is summed up in the victim cluster, representing events where no responsibility can be placed on the company. Crises that can be found in this cluster range from rumours, product tampering, violence at the workplace to natural disasters (Coombs, 2014). The next group, the accidental cluster, is made up of accidents or product harm caused by technical-error and challenges by unsatisfied stakeholders. Finally, the preventable cluster focuses on crisis that could have been avoided as the company was aware of the risk for negative implications (Coombs, 2014). Examples for this category are human-error accidents or product harm and organizational misdeeds that can, but do not necessarily have to, result in injuries (Coombs, 2014).
Since a major focus of the study is on the crisis communication during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the author includes the category of pandemics or public health crises in the victim cluster. This decision is based on the similarity with natural disasters that also impact organizations without the company having a responsibility for the outbreak or being able to really influence the course of the crisis. Both events are characterized by being external, however the element of intentionality does not apply since both events cannot be triggered on purpose.
2.2 Crisis management
Crisis management is a crucial part of any company’s strategic management nowadays, however it has a long tradition and roots in the field of disaster and emergency 15
management (Coombs, 2010). With crises becoming increasingly frequent, there is a rising need to be prepared to avoid harming stakeholders or the organization in times of critical situations (De Wolf & Mejri, 2013). Furthermore, in today’s fast-moving world, crises demand an instantaneous reaction by the company’s crisis management team to try and limit the negative repercussions (Stephens et al., 2005). Any type of crisis in an organisation is an exceptional circumstance that is unpredictable (Glaeßer, 2005), and no company remains entirely untouched by all crises (van der Meer et al., 2017). Therefore, companies need to be well prepared for crises and have crisis management schemes in place in order to avoid the worst case scenario, which could heavily impact the workflows within and outside of the firm (Guth, 1995). Crisis management is put in place in order to allow for fast communication, quick decision-making and most importantly deciding what information to share with whom (Hale et al., 2005).
Similar to Coombs’ three-step model depicting the phases of crises, crisis management can also be split into these three areas (Coombs, 2010). In each of the sequences, the emphasis is put on different strategies. During pre-crisis the emphasis is on the prevention and preparation for a crisis, which also includes the categorization of crises (Tse et al., 2006). Being aware of what crises have the potential to impact a company allows for the correct measures to be put in place for the future. The actual crisis stage is focusing on responding to the ongoing situation and assessing the damage that has been done (Tse et al., 2006). At this stage planned measures are also reassessed and adapted to better fit the needs of the organization at that moment in time (Coombs & Holladay, 2002). Finally, the post-crisis stage is used to learn from the experience and evaluate (Coombs, 2018). These stages are also reflected in the crisis management plan, which is an essential part of the crisis management of most companies.
One of the major ideas behind crisis management is to put in place a team of people who have the necessary skills and knowledge to be in charge of preparing an organization for possible future crisis events as well as lead the company through critical times (Penrose, 2000). Setting up a crisis management plan and working through potential crisis scenarios are just two of the tasks that crisis management teams are faced with in the preparation to prevent a crisis (Penrose et al., 1997 cited in Penrose, 2000). A crisis management plan should be put in place so that it is known prior to the outbreak of a crisis how to handle the organizational activities and how crisis communication will direct its messages to stakeholders (Fall & Massey, 2005). Having a crisis management 16
plan in place allows companies to respond and counteract the crisis faster and in a more effective manner (Coombs, 2001).
It is obvious that crisis management plans are of great importance to companies, however it is worth remembering that they are only drafts of how to deal with a crisis (Coombs, 2007b). For example, Argenti (2002) highlighted the fact that 9/11 showed very well that no matter how thorough a company’s crisis management plan is, sometimes improvisation is required to handle an unprecedented event. Thus, these plans should be updated regularly and adapted to the changing needs that a company has during different crisis (Benoit, 1997). Aside from crisis management plans, crisis communication is another key aspect, which can be the deciding factor between whether a company’s reputation post-crisis has suffered or has been boosted (Marra, 1998).
2.3 Crisis communication
De Wolf & Mejri (2013) stated that 80 per cent of crisis management revolves around communication, as the damage a crisis brings with it often lies in the perception rather than in the actual reality. According to Coombs (2010), crisis communication is the process of acquiring information on a crisis event and sharing this processed knowledge with the affected parties. Furthermore, this subcategory of crisis management is in charge of conveying messages effectively and ensuring the stakeholders’ understanding of possible consequences, as well as influencing the public’s perception of the evolving situation (Freberg et al., 2013; Reynolds & Seeger, 2005). The two major aspects of crisis communication are crisis knowledge management and managing the stakeholders reactions (Coombs, 2009). Crisis communication is often also seen as a part of public relations (Coombs, 2007b), yet compared to the usual idea of convincing the audience of a product or idea in marketing, crisis communication is forced to provide the information that is required by the audience and satisfy their curiosity (Brasseur & Forgues, 2002).
The literature argues that crisis communication, as it is used by companies today, has first been used in the early 1980s with the Tylenol tampering that Johnson & Johnson had to handle (Mitroff, 2004, cited in Fall & Massey, 2005). However, it has only been in the last decades that crisis communication has evolved into a central component of organizational management (De Wolf & Mejri, 2013). The need for putting communication tactics aside has been pushed by a number of crisis situations. Especially in the United States, the crisis communication research has been stimulated by events such as 9/11 or school shootings such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School 17
(Sellnow & Seeger, 2013). In today’s world, crisis communication plays an important role and is mostly seen as falling into one of two categories. It is either perceived as being a reactive function, that only comes into play once the crisis has already occurred (Ulmer et al., 2011), or it is a long-term preparation and proactive tool to counteract and prepare for a critical event (De Wolf & Mejri, 2013). No matter which approach is selected, crisis communication allows companies to provide stakeholders with information and confidence, thereby decreasing the long-term negative impact and protecting the stakeholder’s impression of the company (Coombs & Holladay, 2010). The safekeeping of an organization’s reputation also positively impacts the financial success as it is an intangible, yet very valuable asset of most companies (Fombrun & Van Riel, 2004). With the help of suitable crisis communication, the image of a company can not only be repaired but also it can protect them from suffering reputational damage in the first place (van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014).
2.3.1 Communication model
The core principle of crisis communication revolves around the idea of exchanging information between the company and the stakeholders. This exchange is based on the principle of communication, which as defined by Shannon & Weaver (1964), consists of five elements. The central parts are the information source, the transmitter, the channel, the receiver and the destination. The source of communication is responsible for the formulation of the message whilst the transmitter then transformes the message into a format that can be shared with the audience via the channel (Shannon & Weaver, 1964). Nowadays, the term media is often used instead of channel (Jandt, 2018). The adaptation of the message depends on the selected channel as print media requires different ways of delivering a message to electronic or photographic types of media (Berger, 2011). At this stage of the communication process the message is at risk of being disrupted due to noise, which describes a stimuli that interferes with the transmission of the communication (Jandt, 2018). Finally the message reaches the receiver who then is tasked with the interpretation and decoding of the transmitted information (Shannon & Weaver, 1964).
Based on the same concept, Lasswell’s (1948) definition of the communication model is focusing rather on answering the five questions of WHO communicates WHAT to WHOM through the use of WHICH CHANNEL and WHAT EFFECT does this have on the receiver. These five components need to be considered by companies when first establishing or adjusting their crisis communication strategies. Furthermore, it is crucial 18
for companies to be aware of possible noise as well as the encoding and decoding that has to happen in order for the message to be transmitted from the sender to the receiver. Whilst both models describe the most important aspects of the communication model that serves as the basis of crisis communication, it is important to highlight that communication is never a one-way process and that feedback from the receiver towards the sender, is worth being included in the model (Aririguzoh, 2005). More interactive communication models were created to include the aspect of exchanging information with the receivers on a continous basis (e.g., Schramm, 1997; Barnlund, 1970), however since this study is focusing on the communication from the company perspective these models are disregarded.
Communication consists of a sender, a medium, the receiver and finally the message (Shannon & Weaver, 1964). These elements can be translated into the following components: In crisis communication the sender is the company affected by a crisis situation who wants and needs to share information with the receivers, the stakeholders. The medium represents the selected channel that will be used to send the message from point A to point B. Finally, the actual message varies based on the content and more importantly depending on the appeal used in the message. A company can select to share an information-centered crisis response, which is used most often according to Coombs (2006). On the other hand, companies can opt to select an emotional-centered response and appeal to the compassion of the stakeholders (Lee et al., 2019).
The communication with the company’s stakeholders is a major part since they are most likely also impacted by the offshoots of the crisis and demand to be informed about the happenings (Pearson & Clair, 1998; Stephens et al., 2005). Stakeholders such as consumers, suppliers, competitors, shareholders and government agencies need to be aware of the organization’s efforts and plans on how to handle the crisis and how each of them might be impacted (Ulmer, 2001). Only when they are being informed in a consistent and trustworthy manner, can the crisis response be perceived as effective (Coombs, 2010). The main focus of crisis communication therefore is to provide accurate, up-to-date information in a way that helps to address possible concerns and to rebuild a damaged company reputation (Brown et al., 2015; Svensson, 2009).
Reaching stakeholders through the appropriate channels is crucial to ensure that the right target group is reached by the message adapted to their needs. Organizations can select traditional channels such as TV, newspapers, radio or opt for the web-based channels such as online newspapers, company websites or nowadays even social media 19
to share their message (Park & Avery, 2018). As channels have the potential to effect the stakeholders in different ways, knowing when to make use of which one is essential. For example, video messages can help create a “face” that can be associated with the crisis communication (Coombs & Holladay, 2009). Furthermore, some channels are better at conveying nonverbal cues than others. According to Pfau & Wan (2006), readers tend to aim their attention at the message source when it comes to video messages, whilst focusing more on the actual content of the message when presented with a written message. According to Park & Avery (2018), crisis communication linked to certain crisis types favour specific channels. For example, the TV is used as the number one channel for most crises followed by websites. Specifically for public health crises, family and friends also are amongst the top three sources where people receive their information from (Park & Avery, 2018). However, Park & Avery (2018) suggested making use of a mixture of traditional and social media channels in order to reach also younger audiences who tend to receive a high percentage of information through social media. The added benefit of using social media is that companies can respond to stakeholders’ concerns and questions quicker and thereby improve their communication and enhance the company reputation (van den Hurk, 2013).
In line with the three stages that a crisis is made up of, crisis communication adapts its responsibilities to the phases of a critical situation (Coombs, 2010). This just provides one example of why crisis communication has to be adjusted to the respective crisis that a company is facing, since some communication strategies are more suitable for specific points in time. During the pre-crisis stage, the main emphasis is placed on expanding the knowledge on possible threats and educating the responsible people on how to properly address stakeholders, represent the ecompany in a media interview or respond to desperate customers (Coombs, 2010). Once the crisis has unfolded, crisis communication should provide correct information consistently at the various touchpoints with its stakeholders (Ritchie et al., 2004). Finally, when a crisis is coming to an end, crisis communication focuses on enlightening affected entities on further steps and ensures that the measures taken during the crisis are understood by the stakeholders (Coombs, 2010).
2.3.2 Response strategies
As can be seen, crisis communication and especially the way companies respond to critical situations can vary, not only depending on the stage of the crisis but also the messages may be adapted to the specific needs of the stakeholders, or the level of 20
responsibility a company feels for a crisis. Based on this insight, a wide range of crisis response strategies has been developed by authors such as Coombs (2018) and Benoit (1995). The major theories are oriented towards the protection of the organizational reputation in the eyes of the stakeholders and by doing so also minimizing the damage a crisis can cause (Brown et al., 2015). However, before elaborating on these two crisis response strategies, there are four important aspects that, irrespective of the strategy used, should always be upheld. The first feature relates to the speed of reaction and it is suggested that when a crisis hits, a message should be shared within the first hour or less (Coombs, 2009). An example of a company underestimating the importance of a speedy company reaction is BP. They experienced the negative consequences of not communicating in a timely matter after the explosion of the BP Deepwater Horizon in 2010 (De Wolf & Mejri, 2013). In addition, it is suggested to avoid the phrase “no comment” and always provide accurate information to the stakeholders (De Wolf & Mejri, 2013). Finally, it is crucial to be consistent and as Coombs put it “speak with one voice” (Coombs, 2009, p. 103). In addition to these four basic suggestions, information during a crisis shared with stakeholders can be divided into the three categories of instructing information, adjusting information and reputation repair (Coombs, 2015). Whilst instructing information focuses on the physical safety of stakeholders during the unfolding of a crisis (Coombs, 2015), adjusting information is implemented to help stakeholders cope mentally with the crisis situation (Sturges, 1994). The third category is the foundation for the two most used theories related to crisis communication (Coombs, 2015), namely Benoit’s (1995) image repair theory and Coombs & Holladay’s (2002) situation crisis communication theory (SCCT).
The image repair theory introduced by Benoit (1995) is oriented towards upholding the image of the company as one of the goals of crisis management. On the other hand, the theory looks at communication as a goal-directed activity (Benoit, 1995). Whilst most literature before Benoit (1995) was suggesting self-defence and apologia as strategies against the loss of face, the newly introduced image repair theory provided five different approaches on how to deal with being under attack. The five approaches range from denial to the evasion of responsibility, the reduction of offensiveness, the introduction of corrective actions and in its most extreme form to mortification (Benoit, 1997). Each of the five different approaches further possesses a range of sub-strategies, such as denial being split into the simple denial or choosing to shift the blame to someone or something else (Brown et al., 2015). In total Benoit (1995; 1997) suggested fourteen different 21
approaches that can be employed to reduce the damage a crisis can have on the image of the company.
Coombs & Holladay (2002) took the basic concept of the image repair theory and developed their own theory: SCCT. The theory is based on the idea of assessing the reputational threat depending on the type of crisis, the company’s history with similar crises as well as the prior reputation (Coombs, 2007c). Coombs & Holladay (2002) came up with nine strategies that are part of the SCCT and clustered them into four so-called postures, which can be seen in Table 1. The first category of strategies is linked to the denial of responsibility which can be done by attacking an accuser, denying the existence of a crisis or blaming other parties for the crisis (Coombs, 2007b). The diminishing posture, which is oriented towards the removal of connections between a crisis and a company, includes the use of excuses to claim that the company does not have control over the events and the justification strategy, applied in order to reduce the perceived damage to the company (Coombs, 2007c). The third posture is focused on the improvement of the organization’s reputation and Coombs & Holladay (2002) recommended using compensation, for example by offering money or gifts to the victims, or apologizing and taking complete responsibility for the crisis. The final strategy should only be used in combination with one of the other approaches as otherwise it can be seen as superficial, therefore it is often referred to as a secondary crisis response strategy (Coombs, 2006). The bolstering posture includes strategies such as reminding stakeholders of the good work the company has done in the past, praising the stakeholders or simply presenting the company as a victim of the crisis (Coombs, 2007c).
Table 1: SCCT Crisis response typology (Coombs, 2007c as cited in Brown et al., 2015)
Crisis response postures and explanations Crisis response strategies Denial posture Attacking the accuser Strives to remove any connections an organization had Simple denial with a crisis Scapegoating Diminishment posture Excusing Attempts to reduce attributions of organizational control Justification and reduce negative effects of the crisis Rebuilding posture Compensation Attempts to improve the organization’s reputation Apology Bolstering posture Reminding Seeks to build a positive connection between an Ingratiation organization and its public
22
Selecting the most appropriate crisis communication strategy is crucial to avoid the organization’s reputation to suffer further (Coombs, 1998 as cited in Claeys & Cauberghe, 2014). It can be seen in the literature that SCCT provides a guideline for properly matching strategies to the crisis types (Claeys & Cauberghe, 2014). For example, when faced with a victim crisis, the theory suggests organizations to make use of the deny strategies, whilst when dealing with accidental crises diminish strategies are well-suited and in the case of preventable crises it is best to apply rebuilding strategies (Coombs, 2007d). Furthermore, SCCT also highlights that when an organization is minimally responsible for an accidental crisis, the best approach by crisis managers would be to select a denial or excuse strategy rather than opting for a complete apology (Coombs, 2007d). Whilst the postures and approaches suggested by SCCT are very similar to the image repair theory by Benoit (1995), the strategies have found more application in the organizations, as can be concluded from the examples provided by the literature (Cooley & Cooley, 2011). Fussell Sisco et al. (2010), for example, applied the SCCT to the American Red Cross’ organizational crisis between the years 1997 and 2007 and found that the correct response strategy for this level of responsibility had been selected. Besova (2008, as cited in Cooley & Cooley, 2011) researched the Valentine’s Day storm of 2007 and how JetBlue chose to handle the crisis by using one of Coombs & Holladay’s (2002) SCCT strategies.
Besides the selection of a crisis communication strategy, the framing of the message shared with the stakeholders has become an important aspect of communication over the past years. The use of emotions is already an essential part of advertising and public relations, however in crisis communication this approach has not been covered to the same extent (Cotte & Ritchie, 2005). Message framing is used along with the content of a crisis communication strategy and can impact how the message is received and evaluated by the target group (McKay-Nesbitt et al., 2011). The company can decide to strategically formulate their communication in a rational or an emotional way, depending on what is deemed more appropriate (Claeys & Cauberghe, 2014). Whilst messages with an emotional note appeal to the receiver’s emotions, rational messages are presenting information in an objective way in order to appeal to rationality (Yoo & MacInnis, 2005). When using the rational approach, it is crucial for the company to ensure a good fit between the crisis response strategy and the experienced crisis situation to guarantee that the response is deemed meaningful and credible by the consumers (Yoo & MacInnis, 2005). 23
According to Sellnow & Vidoloff (2009), message framing can positively impact the stakeholder’s perception of the organization. For example, the harm to the public’s level of trust can be minimized by communicating in an empathic way and with genuine compassion (Sellnow & Vidoloff, 2009). Organizations therefore have to understand the importance an emotionally framed communication can have as part of a crisis response strategy (van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2014) and the benefits that can come from the use of emotions to protect the reputation of the company (Read, 2007). The American Red Cross could have selected a more compassionate approach during their response to Hurricane Katrina (Veil & Husted, 2012). Instead of approaching the public by acknowledging their concerns and providing them with explanations, they decided to simply inform the public and the media bluntly of their plans, missing the chance to build trust with the stakeholders (Veil & Husted, 2012). The choice of which framing technique to use also depends on the involvement of the stakeholders in the crisis (Morrison et al., 2011). Especially when the stakeholders’ crisis involvement is low, more emphasis should be placed on the emotional framing of crisis communication as typically the interest in issue-relevant information is limited (Yoo & MacInnis, 2005). On the other hand, high involvement of stakeholders is normally reflected by an interest in rational information and fact-based data. Claeys & Cauberghe (2014) further emphasize the fact that rational framing requires a more accurate match of the crisis response strategy, whilst emotionally framed messages do not depend to the same extent on the appropriateness of the communication strategy.
2.3.3 Evaluation of crisis communication
Adapting crisis communication strategies to the event a company is facing and to selecting the most appropriate communication approach involves a large amount of data gathered in advance, as well as experience in how to handle crisis events, to make the most suitable decision (Coombs, 2018). However, once a crisis has passed it is important to take a look at the company’s response and the effect it had on the organization. In other words, it is crucial to learn from past crises and draw conclusions from the applied strategies and their impact on the relationship with the company’s stakeholders (Coombs, 2007b). Businesses tend to use tangible, metric data in order to analyse the outcome of a newly introduced measure, however measuring crisis communication is more difficult due to the intangible nature of the possible measurements (Hubbard, 2014) and the fact that no metrics have been defined for the analysis of communication (Palttala & Vos, 2012). Nevertheless, drawing conclusions from how a crisis was handled 24
is critical information that can impact the company’s preparedness for dealing with future crises.
According to Huang (2012), most companies use organizational reputation as a measure to determine the effectiveness of the crisis communication strategies employed. As the organizational reputation is representative of the stakeholders’ perception of the organization and is often used as a performance measure in the Public Relations field (Huang, 2012), it could be used to assess the added value entailed by applied crisis communication strategies (Hering et al., 2004). Ulmer et al. (2011) also use the stakeholder relationship as a way of evaluating how effective the communication measures were. Besides the organizational reputation, media publicity can also be used to determine whether the communication was appropriate (Huang, 2012). Looking at the company’s media output, such as the quantity of communication, the quality and the coverage by the media, can help to evaluate the company’s approach (Huang, 2012). Moreover, a suitable response to a crisis event would lead to a cost reduction as the company is not faced with expenses related to the image rebuilding or by additional challenges from negative publicity in the media (Benoit & Brinson, 1999).
In order to have a more suitable tool for the evaluation of crisis communication measures, Palttala & Vos (2012) have suggested the creation of a scorecard based on Kaplan & Norton’s (1992) balanced scorecard. This tool is used to start dialogue and reflection whilst taking into consideration assessments that have been made on different aspects of crisis communication and support the reflection process (Palttala & Vos, 2012). However, this version of the crisis communication scorecard has yet to be researched in more detail in order to analyse the effectiveness of the tool and compare it to other ways of measuring (Palttala & Vos, 2012).
2.4 Crisis communication in the airline industry
In the airline industry crisis management and crisis communication are especially important since crises arise on a more regular basis. Therefore, contingency plans are in place for a variety of different crisis situations at various levels in the business sector. Whilst airlines have their own crisis management tools available (Finnair, 2019), the superordinate airline associations such as the AAPA or the ICAO have also established procedures and collaborations in order to provide assistance to the aviation industry (AAPA, 2017; ICAO, 2011). A big part of the strategies revolves around the 25
communication and cooperation with the wide range of stakeholders in the event of a crisis (ICAO, 2011).
As stated by Argenti (2002), when the 9/11 disaster unfolded, American Airlines made use of news media to communicate with their stakeholders, most importantly with their employees. Nowadays, the use of the companies’ websites, newsletters and social media channels has become a big part of crisis communication also in aviation. IATA (2020c) is looking to ensure that airline staff is well-versed in the best communication strategies in order to moderate the reputational challenges that often are linked to crises in the airline sector. Especially in the constantly connected world that is the 21st century, the timing and content of company reactions and statements can be crucial to the perception of the crisis communication effectiveness (IATA, 2020c).
When looking through past literature on the subject, it becomes obvious that airlines gathered experience on how to deal with airplane crashes, such as the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps (The Economist, 2015), or environmental disasters, like the outbreak of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 (KLM, 2015). However, even with the past spread of SARS and MERS, the two other major outbreaks of communicable diseases, airlines are still struggling with the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2.4.1 The unique situation of the airline industry
The airline industry is an economic sector that is highly specialised and differs greatly from other areas of business. On the one hand this is due to the global nature of the business, since the main role of the companies is to facilitate the movement of people and goods between various locations around the globe (Fung et al., 2006). It can also be traced back to the fact that the product of the industry is not only highly homogeneous across airline companies but the demand for the service is also derived from the interest for the actually valued product, such as a vacation or a business trip (Doganis, 2019). Moreover, the service is not storable and the industry is notorious for being very cost intensive, requiring a continuous flow of revenues in order to remain profitable (Tretheway & Markhvida, 2014). The combination of these major characteristics also underlines the vulnerability of the sector and highlights why aviation has been heavily impacted by the ongoing public health crisis.
One aspect that distinguishes airline companies is the structure of the costs which in part also explains the vulnerability of the whole sector. The airline business is cost intense and is faced with low profit margins, volatile foreign exchange rates as well as ever- 26
changing fuel prices (Tretheway & Markhvida, 2014). A large part of the costs is irrespective of the number of flights operated, such as for example the airport charges or the maintenance of aircrafts (Agrawal, 2020). Therefore, operating an airline with a limited schedule and very few passengers leads to high expenses. The personnel and capital intense nature of the business further explains why economic downturns impact airlines without delay (Hätty & Hollmeier, 2003). These rather fixed costs are difficult to adapt over one scheduling period as the flight plan does not allow for quick adjustments of aircraft numbers or maintenance requirements. If a company decides that due to the low demand of the season or a downturn in economy, they are going to reduce the flight schedule and cancel routes, this adaption can take up to two years (Doganis, 2019).
2.4.2 Crisis communication as a central tool in aviation
As reflected in the amount of literature that is available on crisis communication in the field of aviation, preparedness for crisis situations is crucial for this industry. An emphasis has been especially placed on how airline companies handle aircraft crashes, as this is the most typical scenario an organization in the aviation field will have to deal with. A look into the crash of aircrafts in more detail, however, reveals that even though an airline might be prepared for such a crisis, each company still handles the situation very differently. This is also due to the fact that every airplane crash is unique and therefore requires an adjustment of the strategic crisis response (Grundy & Moxon, 2013).
For example, in the case of the 2008 British Airways crash in London Heathrow, which was caused by product failure, the company reacted immediately and communicated thoroughly by providing information about the event (Grundy & Moxon, 2013). Furthermore, the CEO made a statement and took charge of the situation, thereby becoming the face of the organization as the crisis unfolded. The company ensured to point out the positive aspects, such as the effective training of the crew that enabled the crash to be seen in a more positive light and impacted the company reputation in a favourable way (Grundy & Moxon, 2013). A similar crisis situation, the crash of an airplane, required a very different approach from the German flag carrier in 2014. The Germanwings flight 4U9525 was deliberately crashed into the French Alps by the co- pilot (Rodriguez-Toubes & Dominguez-Lopez, 2017). The crisis demanded a more apologetic and victimage crisis response strategy from Lufthansa and Germanwings. Their communication was mainly directed at the victims’ families yet at the same time the CEO reminded the public of the values of their company and promised an increase 27
in safety regulations, thus indirectly including an apologetic expression (Canny, 2016). Despite the tragic outcome of flight 4U9525, Lufthansa was praised for the transparency and the humanity they showed, and the good use of social media and the company website was pointed out by IATA (2020c).
Social media has more recently been used by a number of companies when handling crises, as it is a great addition to traditional media and often allows for a quicker communication with the customers themselves. Norwegian, SAS and KLM made use of various platforms during the Icelandic volcano eruption in 2010 to get in touch with their consumers and ensure that the passengers needs were met as fast as possible (Bygstad & Presthus, 2012; Romenti et al., 2014). KLM used three social media tools to provide instructive information and apologize to the stakeholders (Romenti et al., 2014), even though it was a violent act of nature (Grundy & Moxon, 2013). The two Nordic airline companies focused on the use of Facebook for their communication and were commended for selecting the right channel of communication and effective response strategies (Bygstad & Presthus, 2012).
However, social media can also negatively impact the crisis communication of airline companies, such as in the case of a passenger being dragged of a United Airlines flight in 2017. A passenger had filmed the incident and shared the video on social media, showing how a passenger was forcefully removed from the airplane after an over-booking incident (Benoit, 2018). Initially the CEO of United Airlines tried to downplay the situation, even though he apologized to the passengers on the flight. He did not apologize to the injured passenger until the next day when it had become obvious that consumers did not appreciate the treatment of the passenger and were not pleased by the company’s reaction (Benoit, 2018). Therefore, the initial mortification strategy was adjusted and eventually responsibility was taken by United Airlines and corrective actions were taken to salvage the company reputation.
These three scenarios are meant to show how companies in the aviation industry typically react to crisis that they are faced with. It is worth mentioning that crisis communication in more diverse situations is under-researched. Especially when casting an eye on public health crises such as SARS or MERS, no literature is available on the communication strategies applied by airlines. The past research has covered the organizational adjustments made in order to combat the negative economic impact of such crises, however no information on the communication strategies directed at stakeholders is provided. 28
3 METHODOLOGY
The following chapter describes the methodology selected for fulfilling the empirical research for the study. The chapter starts by illustrating the research design before elaborating further on the method of case selection. The methodology also presents the chosen sampling strategies, data collection process and in-depth information on the data analysis. Details on the quality of the data and ethical considerations can be found towards the end of the chapter.
3.1 Research design
The relevant information for answering the research question was collected from secondary sources. In-depth information on the topic was gathered using an analysis of appropriate literature, including literature that covers the topic partly or in a broader sense as well as the review of scientific articles in the field of interest. As expected, a range of relevant literature was found in the areas of crisis management, crisis communication and air transportation management. However also articles focusing on the current developments regarding COVID-19 were consulted. In order to answer the research question, the academic literature research was completed with the results of the case study content analysis in order to cover the sectors where limited secondary data was accessible.
As a result of the challenges experienced on a world-wide level caused by the ongoing pandemic, the methodology was adapted to provide a meaningful and informative research outcome. Therefore, it was decided to employ a comparative case study to further understand the implications of crisis communication in a specific setting, such as the ongoing public health crisis, once an extensive literature review had been carried out (Eisenhardt, 1989). Since the setting of the study was still developing and it covers a contemporary event, case studies are exceptionally well suited for the analysis of data (Yin, 2018). The comparative case study provided the author with a deeper understanding of the communication strategies of different, previously selected airline companies (Patton, 2015). Having a variety of cases to compare with one another allowed for a more thorough theory-building as the findings were gathered from a wider range of sources (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). A single case study would have allowed for an insight into the phenomenon, however consulting a wider variety of cases made for a more robust building of theory (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). 29
As the access to internal company data in the airline industry was restricted, the study focused on stakeholder communication, messages and crisis communication directed at external stakeholders, such as the airlines’ customers, investors and business partners. The data came from press releases, annual reports, company websites, press conferences as well as from the airlines’ social media communications. This allowed the author to have a wide range of data to base the case study on, whilst also ensuring the accessibility of information. In past studies, especially when looking at how airlines dealt with crisis, oftentimes newspaper articles as well as social media posts were used in order to measure the crisis communication efforts of the companies (Brajawidagda et al., 2015; Grundy & Moxon, 2013). The cases were selected in order to represent the general trend in the aviation industry, whilst at the same time including more heterogeneous cases (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, as cited in Nag & Gioia, 2012).
3.1.1 Data collection
In order to compare how airlines are currently operating and communicating their crisis response, data from airline companies was compiled and compared to learn more about the implemented strategies. The data was collected from the websites of four selected airline companies (Air France, British Airways, Finnair and Lufthansa) ranging from mid-March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first started to hit the European airline industry, up until mid-November of the same year. Stakeholder-related announcements concerning COVID-19 were collected from the companies’ web pages where important information was shared with travellers. Further, press releases on more specific company decisions shared with the media and other external stakeholders were also included. The press releases were dated between March 11th and November 11th 2020. The information and articles on the websites, unfortunately did not show a date when they were published or updated. All the data was accessed through the web page of the respective company. The four case companies all had special COVID-19 subsections focused solely on sharing information with travellers and other external stakeholders that could be accessed via banners or via the menu tabs on the top of the web pages. To ensure the highest possible level of comparability, all website locations were set to Finland and the language settings were changed to English.
The four case companies were selected in order to not only operate as a representative sample of the airline industry but also include contrasting cases as suggested by Lincoln & Guba (1985, as cited in Nag & Gioia, 2012). As a wide range of previous studies looking at crisis communication selected specific case companies and shared how they dealt with 30
a crisis, it was decided to use this method as well in this example of crisis communication in the airline industry.
3.1.2 Sampling and accessing data
The airline industry was selected for its special role in today’s world and because of the severity of the impact of this public health crisis. As one of the few industries that has come to an almost complete stop during certain time periods of 2020 (ACI, 2020), the applied communication strategies are expected to be crucial in the survival of airline businesses. However, the wide range of airlines operating in the world today, required several selections to be made on what kind of case companies to focus on in this study. Furthermore, a narrower study scope was put in place to ensure the author was not overwhelmed by the volume of available information (Eisenhardt, 1989).
Firstly, in order to reduce the scope of the study a decision had to be made on what type of airlines should be analysed. A rough subdivision in the airline industry can be made between airlines providing services to passengers and those that only transport cargo items. Since the outbreak of the pandemic has majorly impacted the passenger travel, many airlines decided to reconfigure their airplanes to be used for the transportation of cargo instead (Albers & Rundshagen, 2020). As the cargo industry even experienced a short boom in the beginning months of the COVID-19 pandemic, cargo airlines were hit by the negative implications of the crisis differently (Nižetić, 2020). Passenger airlines were hit especially due to the imposed travel restrictions that did not affect the cargo airlines. Furthermore, there is also a different communication needed depending on when a company is looking to sell its services to private consumers or enterprises, especially when it comes to social media marketing, B2C and B2B strategies differ significantly (Iankova et al., 2019). Based on these findings, it was decided to select the case study companies from the field of passenger airlines and disregard cargo-only carriers.
Secondly, in the passenger airline industry a major distinction was made between legacy carriers and low-cost carriers. Due to the longer history of legacy carriers and the wider range of destinations, the study will be focusing on legacy carrier airlines solely. To further reduce the number of possible cases, the cases were chosen from the top 20 airline groups based on the number of passengers in millions in 2019 (CAPA, 2020b). Since low-cost carriers were previously excluded from the case study selection the Ryanair Group who lead the ranking was left aside and instead the following three top 31
legacy carrier groups were selected, each of them will be represented by one airline. The Lufthansa Group, which ranks 2nd, will be represented by Lufthansa. British Airways, as part of the International Airlines Group (IAG) is on rank three. The third case company is Air France, which can be found ranking fourth under the AF-KLM Group. Finally, the fourth case, Finnair, ranks 18th, was selected to represent a contrasting example to the three biggest legacy carriers.
As can be seen from the focus on European airlines, a geographic limitation has been placed on the airline selection. This restriction was put in place in order to avoid a potential cultural impact on the crisis communication (Berkelaar & Dutta, 2007). Moreover, as COVID-19 has impacted countries and continents differently and at various points in time, Europe was selected as the continent this study will focus on. A comparison of international airlines would have been distorted, for example by the travel restrictions put in place by Australia and New Zealand, shutting international borders for the year (BBC, 2020).
Based on these four sampling scopes, the companies for the comparative case study were selected to be as comparable as possible on an organizational level, yet still differ in their approach to communication to stakeholders. The four chosen case companies are summarized in Table 2. For each of the companies, the website was browsed and entries related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic were saved. The websites were all in English and if multiple web pages existed for one company, the emphasis was placed on the website that consumers would use to book services, as this would be the first contact point for most stakeholders. This also ensured access to the data that was collected for the study. Furthermore, the companies’ news entries or press releases were accumulated to be disassembled and examined, allowing an insight into the selected communication strategies. Special attention was placed on gathering all press releases and only once all 269 of them had been considered, news articles not including information about COVID- 19 were excluded as they were deemed irrelevant for the study. 32
Table 2: Overview of case companies
Case Home World’s 20 Destinations Fleet Website (as of November 11th 2020) Press releases / company country Best Airline size News Ranking Air France France Not ranked in 108 destinations 302 • Front page flash info on lockdown in France 32 COVID-19 related Top 20 on 5 continents (Air • Three slides leading to three web pages: newsletters and press (Rosen, 2019) (Air France, France, - Our Air France Protect Commitment releases out of 38 2020o) 2020s) - Our Health and Safety Commitment (Air France, 2020p) - We’re adapting our flight schedule (Air France, 2020m) British United Rank 17 279 destinations 302 • Front page information box “Coronavirus /Travel and service 29 COVID-19 related Airways Kingdom (Rosen, 2019) on 6 continents (IAG, updates” leading to “Coronavirus travel and service updates” newsletters out of 33 (IAG*) 2019, p. covering (British Airways, 2020k) (IAG, 2019, p. 26) • Submenu tab “Travel news” has “Coronavirus” section 5) • “Information” has “Welcome on Board” page focused on COVID-19 (British Airways, 2020j) Finnair Finland Rank 12 130 destinations 59 • Front page announcement bar 46 COVID-19 related (Rosen, 2019) on 3 continents (Finnair, • Menu tab “Coronavirus & Travelling”: newsletters out of 119 (Finnair, 2020a, 2020a, p. - Ticket changes (Finnair Group, 2020) p. 20) 15) - Health and safety measures - Coronavirus testing - Finnair Corona Cover - Onboard meal service - Frequently asked questions - Travel updates (Finnair, 2020u) Lufthansa Germany Rank 11 214 destinations 364 • Front page tile “Travelling and Corona” 58 COVID-19 related (Rosen, 2019) on 5 continents (Lufthansa • Menu tab “Travelling & Corona”: newsletters out of 89 (Lufthansa Group, - Overview (Lufthansa Group, Group, 2020a, 2020a, p. - Entry regulations 2020t) p. 48) 24) - Flexible rebooking options - Hygiene measures (Lufthansa Group, 2020e) *In total the IAG airlines (British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus & LEVEL) fly to 279 destinations, no more detailed numeric information on British Airways route network was available. 33
3.2 Data analysis process
Once the data from the companies’ websites and press releases was gathered and saved, the analysis of the data began. To start, a specific approach to analysis had to be selected since there is a wide range of possible processes that were published. It was decided to follow Spiggle’s (1994) framework, which consists of seven process steps that allow for the analysis of qualitative data. The process started off with the categorization of data, followed by the abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, integration, iteration and finally the refutation. These steps are similar to Gioia et al.’s (2012) three-stage structure starting by establishing a 1st order concept, then the 2nd order themes and lastly arriving at aggregate dimensions. However, the method suggested by Spiggle (1994) was deemed more detailed. Nevertheless, for the visualization of the data structure Gioia et al.’s (2012) structure was made use of as it proved to provide a better insight into the process of data structuring. The idea behind the process of analysis is the reduction and splitting of data into categories of information that can then be understood more easily and similarities and differences in the cases can eventually be underlined (Gioia et al., 2012). It is important to mention that the data from the four case companies was first analysed separately to establish in-case patterns before conducting a cross-group analysis as suggested by Miles & Huberman (1994). Cross-group analysis was used as it is aimed at finding differences between the cases, for example different communication strategies. As the analysis is first conducted on an individual case level, the first steps of the analysis process were followed for each of the four case companies separately before reaching the cross-case analysis and starting the comparison process.
3.2.1 Coding
Upon the collection of the data the process of analysis started, by first reading through the data several times. The step of categorization, which is often referred to as coding, started off by creating homogenous groups of data that are heterogenous to other established categories (Spiggle, 1994). A piece of data, in this study, was for example, a phrase or word used by the airlines on either their website or in their press releases. These pieces of data could then be transferred into a separate document to be collected and available for future analysis. For example, all the relevant pieces of data relating to the hygiene and health measures on board of the aircrafts were gathered in an Excel sheet in order to have all the data pieces in a common place according to their assigned category. This step allowed for important information to be filtered out of the wide range of data retrieved from the case companies. In the beginning, Gioia et al. (2012) confirmed 34
that in their method, a large amount of labels can be found, however, these will later be reduced by making use of the next process steps such as abstraction or dimensionalization. The raw data included a total of 1044 individual phrases, sentences or text elements that required categorization. The data was very evenly distributed between the four case companies, as between 254 and 275 entries came from each of the four companies.
The labelling of the data categories followed an inductive coding approach since the themes were not based on theoretical models. In this study the first patterns were solely developed based on the raw data and the analysis by the author. The use of computer applications was decided against and the data was coded by hand. Nevertheless, the documents were covered several times and the coding process was repeated in order to improve the quality of the analysis. This element of the iteration step not only improved the categorization but also allowed for more refined categories. The themes used when coding the press releases and the websites can be seen in Figure 1.
Categories (2nd order themes) in newsletters & press releases
Categories (2nd order themes) also used on websites = *
Cargo Effect on company Impact on the industry
State support Predictions Operations*
Emotional Collaboration* Sustainability concern
Future changes Community service Behaviour
Company dedication* Role of airline Cleaning*
Medical shipments Needs of customers* HEPA filters*
Mask* Repatriation Hygiene & health measures*
Pilot training Social distancing* Temperature check*
Safety* Recommendations to customers* Vouchers & reimbursement*
Website reference Communication with passengers* Flight cancellation*
Additional services to customers* Delay in service* Service expansion
Capped fares
Figure 1: Categories used in coding of newsletters, press releases and websites 35
These categories are based on concepts that arose during the review of the collected data from both the companies’ press releases and the companies’ websites. Whilst during the first review of the data the very general theme of “safety” appeared, further review of the data allowed to split this category into more specific 2nd order themes such as mask, social distancing or temperature check. Examples for the various themes can be found in Chapter 4, where the data structure provides an overview of the airlines’ communications via their press releases, newsletters and websites.
3.2.2 Abstraction and comparison
After the 2nd order themes were established, the processes of abstraction and comparison were used to start combining, and thereby reducing, categories (Spiggle, 1994). The reduction process is essential in order to minimize the number of categories that will eventually be interpreted and used for the creation of theory (Gioia et al., 2012). By looking through the established categories and highlighting similarities and differences amongst them, more abstract categories have been created. Besides the abstraction of the categories, the data was also compared with itself. According to Boeije (2002) the comparison of data points even within one document allows the author to establish whether responses, or in this case communication strategies and words, were used consistently throughout the companies’ statements. Furthermore, the data and categories were also later on compared across different media and across the time frame of the data collection period. This provided an insight into the consistency not only within one statement but also throughout the eight months that the COVID-19 pandemic has been impacting the airline companies.
These newly formed categories are what Gioia et al. (2012) called abstract dimensions. As can be seen from Figure 1, from originally 33 categories in the second order, the abstraction and comparison decreased the number of dimensions to six.
3.2.3 Dimensionalization and integration
The next step in the analysis of the data was dimensionalization, which is used to identify specific properties that these categories possess (Spiggle, 1994). The purpose of this step is to explore the range of attributes and learn more about the constructs that are established based on the categories. The introduction of scales into the categories enables variations to be identified as the companies’ perception might be based on the same category but on different sides of a dimension. Dimensionalization is also essential in the 36
creation of relationships between categories as discussed by Strauss & Corbin (1990, as cited in Spiggle, 1994). Examples of dimensionalization are provided in Table 3.
Table 3: Dimensionalization based on Spiggle (1994)
Desirable Aspect Undesirable
“We have made considerable Delay in service “In view of the magnitude of this additions to the personnel crisis and the number of processing the requests and have cancellations, it will take longer also developed robots to speed up than usual to process the the process” (Finnair, 2020o) transactions.” (Air France, 2020m)
“…thank all Air France staff for their Staff “The program includes the exemplary dedication.” (Air France, reduction of 22,000 full-time 2020o) jobs in the Lufthansa Group.” (Lufthansa Group, 2020s)
“[…] removed the seats and stripped Operations “The company is currently the interiors of two of its grounded operating approximately 5% of 777-200 fleet.” (British Airways, its usual flight schedule, […]” 2020h) (Air France, 2020h)
“[…] the company estimates that the Predictions “The Group currently expects recovery of air traffic will begin in demand for air travel to return stages from the beginning of July to pre-crisis levels in 2024 at the 2020.” (Finnair, 2020o) earliest.” (Lufthansa Group, 2020s)
Once the scales of the constructs had been established, integration helped the creation of theory based on the data that had been gathered from the four companies’ websites and press releases (Gioia et al., 2012; Spiggle, 1994). The integration is especially geared towards the discovery of relationships between constructs. The previous steps have allowed the data to be combined up to a point where the detection of relationships is possible (Spiggle, 1994).
3.2.4 Iteration and refutation
As already mentioned above, the process steps of iteration and refutation were made use of at various points in time, throughout the analysis process. Iteration, the going back and forth between various data sources, is said to be done several times and at regular intervals to help create a more unified interpretation of the data (Spiggle, 1994). Not only 37
did the iteration between various data points of one company become useful, but it also included the possibility of returning to the four different case companies throughout the process of analysis. Finally, to conclude Spiggle’s (1994) analysis process, the use of contradicting cases is suggested. One of the ways to fulfill the principle of refutation is by testing the findings in different settings, such as in different contexts, venues or units of organizations (Spiggle, 1994). It can be said that the use of four different case companies allows for refutation to be completed.
3.2.5 Cross-case analysis
In order to be able to establish a deeper and more thorough understanding of communication strategies in the public health crisis in the aviation industry, a cross-case analysis was included in this study. Based on the approach by Miles & Huberman (1994), the case-study approach was used to look at four different companies and how they respond and choose to communicate during the current public health crisis. The comparison of the data allowed the highlighting of similarities and differences in the companies’ approaches to crisis communication. By aggregating the previously established findings from each of the cases and then comparing them in a contrast table, differences could be detected more easily and similarities could be confirmed. Special attention was paid not only to the categories and 2nd order themes, but also to the detailed choice of words, specific strategies selected and the approach chosen by a company. The findings from the analysis along with a contrast table can be found in the following chapter.
Pre-analysis Analysis During Analysis Post-analysis
Re- Data Trustworthiness Credibility collection categorization • Color coding • Identifiying fitting Transferability themes First categorization of collected data Iteration Dependability • Categorization • Abstraction Confirmability • Comparison • Dimensionalization
• Integration Integrity
Creation of tables Figure 2: Steps followed during the analysis process 38
3.3 Quality of the research
The quality of the study will be evaluated according to the five criteria first introduced by Wallendorf & Belk (1989). The criteria were established to present the measures taken in order to prove that the data and the related findings can be trusted. The five criteria are: credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability and integrity. A summary of the most important aspects of quality assurance is provided in Table 4.
Credibility is looking to ensure that the representation of the constructed reality is believable and adequate (Wallendorf & Belk, 1989). In order to uphold this principle, it was ensured that the sources of the data used from the four case companies were stated and easy to be retrieved. In addition, the process of data analysis can be followed in Figure 2, to provide the possibility to understand the flow of the whole process of data gathering and analysis. Aside from prolonged engagement within the airline industry over the course of the research period, which is one technique utilized by Wallendorf & Belk (1989), repeated analysis of the raw data and categories was used to increase the credibility of the research. The limitation to externally available company data from websites and press releases, reduced the possibilities for data triangulation (Eisenhardt, 1989). Moreover, the triangulation with the help of multiple researchers could not be made use of, resulting in the data being looked at and coded by a single researcher.
Transferability indicates that the outcome of the study would be able to be transferred to settings that differ slightly without major changes in the findings (Wallendorf & Belk, 1989). This particular study was done with a specialized focus on legacy carriers within Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, aside from possible cultural differences reflected in the communication with stakeholders, it can be expected that the empirical findings would be transferable to similar contexts. Moreover, as these companies are big global companies in an industry that is based on international work, the comparison with companies in other geographic regions should not be problematic. Additionally, the general learnings of the study are thought to be applicable to a wide range of crisis situations that require communication to external stakeholders.
Dependability is interested in the replicability of the study by other researchers (Wallendorf & Belk, 1989). To ensure the dependability of the study, a detailed description of the data coding process and the analysis was included in order to allow for the reconstruction of the study. Moreover, since the utilised raw data is publicly available and easily accessible, a possible replication could make use of the same data. To ensure 39
that even the website data is dependable, screenshots of the relevant web pages are provided in the Annex to freeze the current content and increase the dependability of the study.
Confirmability ensures that the findings are not influenced by the author and researcher (Wallendorf & Belk, 1989). It is essential that the data collected and used in the study are as neutral and unbiased as possible. Therefore, often triangulation of data by multiple researchers is used in order to increase the confirmability of the study findings. Unfortunately, this was not possible in this case; nevertheless, since the raw data stems from secondary research the author’s bias influencing the findings was decreased. Looking back, Spiggle’s (1994) advice of making notes and keeping a journal during the data collection and analysis process could have further lowered any personal bias.
Integrity is put in place in order to ensure that the information provided by the informants is unimpaired by misinformation, lies or similar strategies to avoid sharing the truth. In this study, due to the fact that secondary data from companies was consulted, there is less room for integrity to be impacted by the organization. This information was provided by the companies on their own platforms and it should therefore be possible to assume that this information was correct and trustworthy. In the collection and analysis process, the author ensured that the integrity was upheld by reporting the data as provided and checking data for accuracy in cases where it was possible with external sources.
Table 4: Quality of the data (adapted from Wallendorf & Belk, 1989)
Criteria Assessment Credibility • Screenshots included for website material • Sources for companies’ news & press releases • Repeated analysis of raw data and categories Transferability • Transferability of results to other, even global, airline companies operating during public health crisis Dependability • Detailed description of data coding & analysis • Data is available online and clearly cited Confirmability • Secondary data retrieved directly from the case companies Integrity • Company-published raw data • Double-checking data during analysis process
40
4 FINDINGS
The following chapter presents the empirical findings of the study and highlights the connections between the aggregated dimensions established during the analysis of the data. The chapter is therefore structured into the six dimensions that were reached.
The dimensions are based on excerpts of press releases and newsletters of the four case airlines and represent recurring topics that the companies communicated. The newsletters, press releases or company websites shared information with the readers on topics that concerned the situation at the time, whilst emphasizing the requirements for travelling safely or sharing the outlook and future plans of the airline relating to the health crisis. The major topics in the newsletters were related to the six dimensions that are discussed in this chapter. However, as certain topics were specific to only one company, not all topics were covered by all four case airlines. In addition, it is worth noting that due to the eight-month timeframe over which the data was published and the change of the COVID-19 situation over that duration, a transition in the topics is noticeable. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic in Europe, a major emphasis was placed on the repatriation of citizens to their respective home countries, whilst later on during the fall, the emphasis shifted to sharing information on the reinstated travel restrictions due to the development of a second wave. This trend was visible across all four case companies and the established dimensions were therefore evenly impacted by this.
41 1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions "Air France's Cargo activity is playing an essential part in the airlift between France and China, in particular by operating B777 aircraft usually reserved for passenger transport. Thanks to these cabin conversions, the airline has increased its cargo capacity by 50%, enabling millions of masks, medical equipment and other goods to be flown to France." (Air France, 2020c) "British Airways began carrying cargo in the cabin of its flights,..." (British Airways, 2020l) "Although the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on our passenger traffic, Finnair still maintains cargo connections between Europe and Asia." (Finnair, 2020g) Cargo "Especially during the current crisis, logistics and thus also airfreight are of paramount importance." (Lufthansa Group, 2020b)
"All passenger traffic figures were still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic related capacity reductions, which was visible especially in the North Atlantic figures as there were no related scheduled flights in July." (Air France, 2020r) "...remaining fleet of 31 747-400 aircraft will be retired with immediate effect as a result of the devasting impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the airline." (British Airways, 2020h) "All passenger traffic figures were still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic related capacity reductions, which was visible especially in the North Effect on company Atlantic figures as there were no related scheduled flights in July." (Finnair, 2020s) "At present, it is not possible to foresee when the Group airlines will be able to resume flight operations beyond the current repatriation flight schedule." (Lufthansa Group, 2020m)
"...industry has never seen a downturn this deep before, and that full year industry passenger revenues could plummet 55% compared to 2019, while traffic falls 48%." (British Airways, 2020m) Status quo "The coronavirus has had an unprecedented impact especially on global aviation and also on Finnair." (Finnair, 2020p) Impact on the industry "The spread of the coronavirus has placed the entire global economy and our company as well in an unprecedented state of emergency." (Lufthansa Group, 2020g)
"The company is currently operating approximately 5% of its usual flight schedule, and 180 out of the 224 aircraft that make up its fleet are currently grounded, and placed in storage at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Toulouse Blagnac, where Air France owns a maintenance base." (Air France, 2020f) "British Airways is trying to use its grounded aircraft in creative ways to support in the global fight against Covid-19." (British Airways, 2020a) Operations "The company follows the development of coronavirus and health officials’ statements and estimates whether further precautionary measures would be required in order to ensure a safe environment both for the employees and the shareholders of Finnair." (Finnair, 2020w) "Lufthansa’s short-haul program will also be substantially reduced further, and only Lufthansa CityLine services will be operated from Munich. From the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, only a few European metropolitan areas will be served." (Lufthansa Group, 2020f)
"support of the French State, in the form of guaranteed loans amounting to 7 billion euros, will enable the Group to withstand the crisis in the State support short term." (Air France, 2020r) "...no Government bailout standing by for BA and we cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely" (British Airways, 2020m) "The government of Finland has confirmed to the company that it will actively support Finnair through this exceptional period." (Finnair, 2020h) "The package provides for stabilization measures and loans of up to EUR 9 billion..." (Lufthansa Group, 2020d)
Figure 3: Data structure Status quo 42
4.1 Status quo
This dimension is based on excerpts of press releases and newsletters where the airlines that introduced their stakeholders to the current state and the necessary adaptations that were going on between March and November 2020. The status quo dimension was influenced by progressive development of the public health crisis. The major topics in the newsletters were related to the impact that the emerging crisis had on the individual companies as well as on the industry as a whole. This information was communicated publicly to keep the stakeholders informed about the developing pandemic and to share how the airlines were trying to adapt to the changing market situation. As Ritchie et al. (2004) point out, newsletters are an effective tool to share information with stakeholders in order to avoid misinformation or speculations.
4.1.1 Cargo
As the first travel restrictions were imposed, airlines across the world quickly realised the impact the pandemic would have on passenger travel with an almost complete halt of aviation activities in March and April 2020. However, simultaneously the cargo industry was experiencing a small boom as the demand for shipping medical equipment grew (Albers & Rundshagen, 2020). All four airlines also have cargo divisions, therefore their communications in the first three months largely focused on using cargo capacities to help with the shipment of personal protective equipment and ventilators. By using phrases such as “actively involved”, “actively playing an essential part” and “making every effort” the companies highlight the importance of their role. Furthermore, with the development of the COVID-19 vaccines the topic of cargo shipping was picked up again in late October by Finnair. The four case companies also emphasized the use of their now idle passenger aircrafts to support the cargo connections that were in high demand especially between Europe and Asia. This transformation of aircrafts is a widely seen phenomenon across airlines around the world in order to benefit from the more stable economic position of cargo transportation (Horton, 2020b).
4.1.2 Effect on the company
As the governmental restrictions on cross-border travel increased in the second quarter of 2020, airlines took measures to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on the company (Albers & Rundshagen, 2020). Whilst Air France only mentioned the impact of the pandemic on the airline by showing that the revenue in the spring had decreased by 95%, the other three airlines also communicated the measures taken to adjust to the 43
challenging economic situation. British Airways and Lufthansa, for example, shared information on the retired aircrafts in order to reduce the number of idle aircrafts parked. Both companies had planned on retiring parts of their fleet previously, however the process had to be sped up due to the negative effect of COVID-19 on the airlines. Finnair especially focused on communicating about the layoffs needed to adjust the costs, and in the fall they also highlighted their special situation affected by “exceptionally strict travel restrictions imposed by Finland” (Finnair, 2020t). At the same time, other European airlines were experiencing a tentative upturn in operated flights due to more relaxed travel restrictions in most European countries (Eurocontrol, 2021).
4.1.3 Impact on the industry
Besides the effect the ongoing public health crisis had on the individual airlines, the whole aviation industry was heavily affected. This topic is also covered extensively by British Airways, Finnair and Lufthansa to underline the fact that it was not only their companies that were struggling. The industry had “never seen a downturn this deep” (British Airways, 2020m) and Finnair (2020r) had already labelled the pandemic as the “biggest crisis in the 100-year history of aviation” by March 2020. A common topic related to the industry impact was also the long-term changes that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the airline industry. The ACI (2020) expected international travels to return to pre-2020 levels in 2024. Lufthansa, too, emphasized that traffic numbers would take a long time to recover as also the travellers’ confidence had to return. Abu- Rayash & Dincer (2020) pointed out that in past health crises, such as SARS, the recovery to pre-crisis levels in transportation took significant time and this can also be expected to be true for this pandemic. One aspect that was emphasized in Lufthansa’s communication was that in their opinion, the industry needed to adjust and take this chance to think about whether unconditional growth is the way for the future (Lufthansa Group, 2020c). Air France did not cover this topic extensively in its messages to shareholders.
4.1.4 Operations
The theme of operations focuses on the day-to-day activities that are at the core of the airline’s business, such as the number of aircrafts in use or the number of destinations serviced. Air France focused heavily on sharing the number of airplanes in use over the first four months of the data collection period. These numbers also reflected the slight increase in passenger numbers towards the end of May and beginning of June. From 44
originally 44 aircrafts being used in April the number increased to 106 in July, which represented about half of the total Air France fleet. British Airways and Lufthansa focused on sharing that they were adapting passenger aircrafts for cargo use to help contain COVID-19. Furthermore, British Airways and Air France promised their stakeholders that they would continue to operate flights to important destinations around Europe and the world, in order to uphold the international connections of both countries. Finnair, on the other hand, did not go into much detail when it came to their current operations. The company simply talked about the fact that adjustments to the flight schedule would be made and that precautionary measures would be introduced to keep staff and travellers safe. It is worth noting that out of the 18 1st order categories within this theme, only one was published after the beginning of July.
4.1.5 State support
Due to the extensive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the airline industry, a number of airlines have had to turn to their state governments for financial support. Air France openly shared that they had received governmental support from the French state in order for the company to survive the pandemic. The Lufthansa Group had approached the governments of the various home countries of its daughter companies and the Deutsche Lufthansa AG had received a stabilization package by the Economic Stabilization Fund of Germany. Similarly, Finnair was also guaranteed support from the Finnish state in order to continue its business activities. Only British Airways did not receive governmental support according to its newsletters stating that the company cannot “expect the taxpayers” to support the company (British Airways, 2020m). However, British Airways’ parent company IAG indeed received support from the UK government. This information was not visible in British Airways’ communications to its stakeholders. 45
1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions "After this difficult period, we are delighted to be welcoming our customers back on board, so that they can travel this summer and be reunited with their loved ones." (Air France, 2020g) "We’re proud to be playing our part, and I’m grateful to everyone who is working to make these flights happen in these difficult times." (British Airways, 2020l) "Finally, I want to say my heartfelt thanks to all Finnair employees for the excellent cooperation, good team spirit and courage they have showed in this very challenging situation. This tough journey has only begun and returning to the path of growth will require determined measures from Emotional Emotional all of us. However, I'm confident we will be strong when we come out of this situation. My warmest thanks also go to our customers for their patience and the encouraging messages they have sent to us. They really mean a lot to all of us at Finnair during these trying times." (Finnair, 2020p) "It was a very difficult decision. After intensive discussion, we have come to the conclusion to agree to the Executive Board's proposal. We recommend that our shareholders follow this path, even if it requires them to make substantial contributions to stabilizing their company. It must be clearly stated, however, that Lufthansa is facing a very difficult road ahead." (Lufthansa Group, 2020q)
Figure 4: Data structure Emotional 46
4.2 Emotional
This dimension is characterised by the use of emotional appeal in the newsletters and press releases of the four case companies. By making use of a range of emotion-inducing adjectives and subjective phrasing, these statements present a different side to the communication strategies used in the other five dimensions. The choice of including emotional appeal in some of the content shared with stakeholders is also supported by Argenti (2020), who highlighted the importance of focusing on empathy in these times of crisis rather than trying to advertise services at all costs. SCCT also categorized the use of emotional expression as a strategy that can be applied in crisis communication (Kim & Cameron, 2011). Additionally, emotional appeal can also enhance the organizational reputation and avoid potential criticism a company could face during a crisis event (Read, 2007).
A major emphasis across all four case companies was placed on the topics of commitment and dedication, especially towards two of the core stakeholder groups, the staff and the consumer. The airlines used the newsletters to thank their staff for their hard work, tireless efforts and dedication to their customers. British Airways CEO Alex Cruz was cited on several occasions talking about how proud he was of his colleagues and how sad it left him to see employees being laid off. Topi Manner, CEO of Finnair, also praised the staff and thanked them for their dedication towards serving their customers. Lufthansa and Air France touched upon the same topics, however, they did not include quotations from leading executives within their companies. The companies also ensured to communicate with their stakeholders regarding the negative impact the virus had on their business and explaining the necessary measures taken in a personal and more emotionally loaded way. For example, the companies used their newsletters to address the layoffs that they had to engage in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the changes in the industry and in their own company resulting from the health crisis were brought up in their newsletters.
The selection of words used to show readers the commitment of the companies to their stakeholders does not vary greatly between the four European carriers. Words such as “act responsible”, “support”, “restore confidence” and “trust” were recurring and were used by all companies. These phrases were especially found in combination with messages addressed to customers, sharing the efforts made by the airlines in order for passengers to return safely to travelling. Furthermore, the companies underlined the patience and flexibility of passengers and apologized frequently for the negative 47
consequences the ongoing crisis had on their current and future travel plans. It is noteworthy that Finnair had the largest number of quotations in the “emotional” dimension even though their total number of 1st order categories was the lowest out of the case companies.
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1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"The number of medium and long haul routes will continue to increase as will the number of frequencies to the vast majority of destinations." (Air France, 2020h) "We know that many of our customers are eager to start exploring the world again and that’s why we are offering them great prices coupled with flexible booking options." (British Airways, 2020f) Reopening "As air traffic gradually recovers, Finnair will increase its service..." (Finnair, 2020e) "Little by little, the borders open again. Demand is increasing, in the short term but also in the long term. We are therefore consistently expanding our flight schedule and our global network and pushing ahead with our restart." (Lufthansa Group, 2020p)
"Its transformation is mainly based on changing its domestic business model, reorganizing its support functions and continuing to reduce its external and internal costs.." (Air France, 2020r) Future of aviation "... reimagine and reshape our airline and create a new future for our people, our customers and the destinations we serve." (British Airways, 2020m) "Finnair has concluded an agreement with Airbus that the deliveries of the remaining three committed A350-900 aircraft will be postponed." Future changes (Finnair, 2020j) "We are convinced that the entire aviation industry must adapt to a new normal. The pandemic offers our industry a unique opportunity to recalibrate: to question the status quo and, instead of striving for "growth at any price", to create value in a sustainable and responsible way." (Lufthansa Group, 2020c)
"Air France predicts that it will not see the same level of activity as in 2019 before 2024." (Air France, 2020r) "... certain elements of the COVID-19 impact, such as remote working and its effect on business travel, are likely to be longer-term in nature." Predictions (Finnair, 2020n) "In the upcoming winter months, demand for air travel is expected to remain low due to the global increase of infection rates and the associated travel restrictions." (Lufthansa Group, 2020n)
Figure 5: Data structure Future of aviation 49
4.3 Future of aviation
The third dimension combines three 2nd order themes that are all looking into future and talk about how COVID-19 is expected to impact the business, the industry and travelling in the opinion of the four airlines. This dimension was impacted by the changing situation of the pandemic during the data collection, which was especially visible in the themes “re-opening” and “predictions” as the perspectives changed and the outlook and companies’ expectations adjusted over the course of 2020. Whilst the first dimension was looking at the current situation that the companies and the industry were handling, the “Future of aviation” dimension was focused on what the companies were planning on implementing in order to survive the crisis.
4.3.1 Reopening
This theme best reflects the uncertainty that the airlines experienced between March and November 2020. After the initial months of very limited travel, the travel restrictions in most European countries were relaxed leading to an increase in demand (Horton, 2020a). Towards fall the COVID-19 situation in Europe worsened again, meaning that the plans made by many airlines to expand their destinations and to have a more profitable second half of the year were revised (CAPA, 2020a). Air France clearly stated the percentage of how many flights from the planned schedule would be operated in each month. In June, the plan was to have 20% of the originally planned flights taking off in the summer months, expanding up to 40% by August. Further, in September 50% of the flights should be operated and 60% in October, however the forecast then was adjusted in September when the airline revised its forecast. The final plan was to operate around half of the planned flight schedule in November and December 2020. Finnair’s newsletters showed the progress of COVID-19 in Europe very clearly. In May and June, the company described the increasing traffic and recovering demand. By August, Finnair had to reduce its flight offers again due to newly introduced travel restrictions in many countries. In October, the network expansion was then hoped to occur in the spring of 2021. According to the flight schedule of Finnair, about 35% of the planned flights would be taking off in October. In comparison, Lufthansa revamped its destinations and flights several times in May and June, slowly increasing the number of destinations serviced. The plan was for 2000 connections per week in mid-June, yet around 2 weeks after the initial newsletter a new plan of offering 1800 weekly connections by September was published. In the long run, the company wanted to operate 90% of short- and medium- haul services by September and October. 50
Whilst the three other airlines focused on sharing information regarding their current and future flight schedules with stakeholders, British Airways decided to highlight the special offers and deals that customers could benefit from. This strategy did not seem to be impacted by the re-introduction of travel restrictions across European countries. British Airways thereby went against Argenti’s (2020) advice of focusing on creating sympathy in times of crisis rather than trying to share promotional offers.
4.3.2 Future changes
As mentioned in relation to the impact of COVID-19 on the airline industry, many companies are struggling and some are therefore taking this opportunity to adjust their business models to become more crisis-resistant and more competitive (Lufthansa Group, 2020c). British Airways touched upon the future company transformations only once, emphasizing the importance of reshaping their airline in order to be able to handle future shocks and crises better. Air France picked up the same topic of necessary transformations, however the company also reiterated the importance of the whole industry having to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst these two airlines only quickly commented on the topic of future changes, Lufthansa and Finnair provided their stakeholders with a more detailed look at what changes could be expected. Finnair specified the need to revise its financials in order to become more competitive and shared its decision to postpone the delivery of new aircrafts to allow them more flexibility (Finnair, 2020j). Similarly, the German flag carrier shared in its newsletters that they were looking to use rapid testing to encourage travelling again and that they too would be scaling back operations, for example by permanently decommissioning a number of aircrafts in order to adapt to the low demand.
4.3.3 Predictions
Whilst in most themes, all companies had a similar number of quotations, when it came to the predictions for the future British Airways did not communicate about theirs at all. Air France only shared its prediction of travel activity returning to pre-crisis levels by 2024. This prediction was widely accepted amongst airlines, including the two other case airlines, and was referenced by the ACI (2020) and IATA (2020d). Finnair’s predictions regarding the future were a little more detailed. The company expected to see an effect on the number of business travels taking place in the future. Further, they were hoping for the traffic to pick up by the beginning of July. Lufthansa, who was planning to return to near normal traffic numbers in short- and medium haul flights by the end of 2020, had to revise its outlook only a month after the original prediction. By November, the 51
company was sharing a bleaker outlook for the remainder of the year. The three airlines highlighted the fact that their customers were looking to return to travelling as soon as possible, which was supported by an IATA-conducted survey (IATA, 2020h), however the imposed travel restrictions kept passengers on the ground. 52
1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"Air France has worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Secretary for Transport to identify and prioritize needs in the various countries, in conjunction with the embassies and Air France delegations around the world." (Air France, 2020n) "... ongoing relationships with a number of food bank providers..." (British Airways, 2020e) Collaboration "co-operation with private Finnish healthcare service company Terveystalo." (Finnair, 2020q) "The cooperation between Lufthansa and CENTOGENE, which is continuously expanding its capacities, serves as a benchmark for a successful test model here,..." (Lufthansa Group, 2020u)
"As early as 23 March, Air France donated thousands of health and beauty products initially intended for customers. More than twenty hospitals* throughout France received hundreds of pallets containing more than 17,000 comfort kits, thousands of sleep masks and earplugs for patients in intensive care as well as for care workers. In addition, some 20,000 first-aid kits and headsets for inflight entertainment were also delivered." (Air France, 2020i) "We’ve had an overwhelming response to our request for volunteers from across British Airways to help in the community fight against Community service coronavirus." (British Airways, 2020h) "The Lufthansa Group is waiving the purchase of more than 920,000 permanently ordered face masks and making them available to the health authorities. In this way, the company assumes social responsibility and supports medical facilities that urgently need these masks." (Lufthansa Group, 2020l) Responsibilitiy to the stakeholders
"...our role has always been and remains today more than ever the link between nations and people. We strive on a daily basis to make essential travel possible, while of course respecting our flight safety requirements and environmental responsibility." (Air France, 2020c) "doing everything in its power to emerge from this crisis." (British Airways, 2020n) "By offering cargo connections between different continents, we can do our part to help the world to recover from the impacts of the Company dedication pandemic. Thanks to the demand for cargo, we’ve been able to keep more of our planes in the sky and people employed both in the air and in our terminal operations." (Finnair, 2020d) "This is also possible due to the unparalleled support and solidarity of the crews as well as ground staff, who at a moment’s notice volunteered their assistance." (Lufthansa Group, 2020f)
"80 cargo charter flights carrying tonnes of PPE and ventilators for the NHS,..." (British Airways, 2020a) "...free cabin space will be used mainly for shipping supplies needed in the coronavirus pandemic..." (Finnair, 2020d) Medical shipments "...the Lufthansa Group has already operated 94 cargo special flights with relief supplies on board." (Lufthansa Group, 2020i) 53
1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"The current crisis has highlighted the value of our role as an airline." (Air France, 2020j) "The campaign also underscores the significant economic and employment impact of the travel sector." (Finnair, 2020l) Role of Airline "... we must live up to the special responsibility that airlines bear in their home countries." (Lufthansa Group, 2020f)
"Air France is introducing exceptional measures to assist and reassure its customers." (Air France, 2020k) "It is important that Finnair customers feel they can travel safely as we recognise that travelling during the pandemic comes with new kinds of Responsibilitiy to the concerns and challenges ." (Finnair, 2020b) Needs of customers stakeholders (cont.) "Only with more uniformity and stability in terms of regulation will more customers book flights again." (Lufthansa Group, 2020w)
"Air France is fully committed to this repatriation mission on behalf of our fellow citizens." (Air France, 2020u) "The airline has already flown back thousands of travellers as part of 65 rescue flights which have either operated or are planned to operate in the Repatriation coming days from destinations across the globe." (British Airways, 2020d) "Since mid-March, the Lufthansa Group airlines have flown back over 70,000 vacationers to their home country from 77 airports on all five continents with 360 special flights. 55 more flights are currently in preparation." (Lufthansa Group, 2020r)
Figure 6: Data structure Responsibility to the stakeholders 54
4.4 Responsibility to the stakeholders
As already discussed in the “emotional” dimension, a large part of the newsletters and press releases were directed at the stakeholders and highlighted the commitment and dedication of the companies towards these affected groups. This dimension gathers themes that were directed at the stakeholders, stressing the work that the airlines have been involved in. The newsletters were not only used to inform consumers on the current measures but also to underline the partnerships that companies have engaged in and to raise awareness for the social responsibility the airlines showed to their respective communities. A possible reason for the inclusion of social responsibility actions could be to positively impact the reputation in the minds of the consumers, which in turn helps companies overcome crises (Porter & Kramer, 2002).
4.4.1 Collaboration
During 2020, the four case companies collaborated with a number of different partners to serve their customers or to support the healthcare workers in the respective countries. In times of crisis, collaboration is often used as a means of achieving a common goal with partners that have different resources or additional, more detailed information (Bryson et al., 2006). Air France, for example, worked together with NGOs such as Restos du Coeur or Aviation Sans Frontières to share their resources with the French people in need. Furthermore, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the French airline, just like British Airways and Lufthansa, cooperated with their respective government and embassies to help citizens to return to their home countries. Another collaboration set up by Air France was with laboratories to provide their passengers with free testing possibilities before boarding a flight. Besides the close cooperation with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the government, British Airways also offered its services to various ambulance services and hospitals. Similar to Air France, the British flag carrier also provided unused resources to food banks. Lufthansa, too, established collaborations with governmental institutions and embassies as well as medical care centres and biotech companies to provide easier access to test facilities for travellers. However, the German airline also set up a partnership with an insurance company in an effort to create confidence amongst the customers. Finnair only engaged in a limited range of collaborations. Nevertheless, the airline had an ongoing cooperation with a private Finnish healthcare service company and the cargo division worked with a container manufacturer to be prepared for the transportation of vaccines. 55
4.4.2 Community service
Closely associated with the theme of collaboration is the topic of community service. Three companies touched upon the work they do for and within their communities. Community service by British Airways and Air France, was mostly in the form of donations. The donations were either monetary or in-kind, such as onboard wash bags, blankets, first aid kits or food packages. Additionally, both airlines also encouraged staff with medical training to volunteer at medical care facilities. Lufthansa on the other hand has redirected a large order of face masks to be donated to health authorities and their staff with completed medical training was also allowed to help in medical institutions on a voluntary basis. However, compared to British Airways and Air France, Lufthansa heavily pointed out the social responsibility that they were living up to with these initiatives. According to Kim & Cameron (2011), sharing details on the relief work a company is engaged in, helps increase the company reputation in the mind of the consumers. No information on community service or donations to care facilities was provided by Finnair.
4.4.3 Company dedication
Dedication and commitment are topics that have already been taken up in the “emotional” dimension and a number of the comments that have been categorized as emotional also represent how the airlines were communicating about the dedication of the company and their staff to serving the stakeholders as well as possible. Since parts of the categories have already been discussed, this category will focus on the dedication of and impact on the companies’ staff as about 75% of the categories within this theme are linked to the employees of the four case companies.
Each one of the four airlines had to let staff go due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, however the coverage of the topic is different depending on the company. Air France, on the one hand only touched upon the topic briefly by making predictions about the number of expected reductions in staff in July. The other three airlines went into further detail whilst sharing the discussions they had with the respective trade unions, in their newsletters. They were informing the readers about the amount of furloughs or short time work their staff was experiencing and thanked their staff often in the same paragraph for their dedication to the company and the customers. British Airways and Lufthansa also brought up the topic of staff volunteering again, whilst Finnair focused on sharing information on social programs put in place for the affected employees. The common tone in the messages concerning staff used by all four companies was the look 56
at the future and the need for adaptations in the workforce in order to become a more competitive company.
4.4.4 Medical shipments
The companies also engaged in the shipment of medical equipment which falls into the category of taking responsibility for their stakeholders as it serves the frontline workers and supports the healthcare system. Moreover, Argenti (2020) suggests providing relief and sharing this information with customers to create positive associations with the company in the mind of the consumer. British Airways, Finnair and Lufthansa provided an insight into their cargo activities, listing the quantities of personal protective equipment and medical supplies shipped. Whilst British Airways and Lufthansa focused on the shipment of medical equipment, Finnair included information on the future handling of vaccines. The Finnish flag carrier is the only one of the four airlines that specifically mentioned the logistical facilities in place to transport vaccines safely and efficiently in the near future.
4.4.5 Role of the airline
The case companies highlighted the importance of their industry in regard to the world economy and the functioning of the infrastructure in their home countries. Air France, for example, talked about the fact that the crisis pointed out the value of airlines in today’s world. Finnair focused on the economic impact of the travel sector whilst Lufthansa talked about the importance of upholding critical infrastructures and the social responsibility to maintain supply chains that were critical for the safety and health of the population. British Airways did not specifically mention the role that it plays in the ongoing pandemic.
4.4.6 Needs of customers
Besides the stakeholder groups of staff, general population and medical institutions, the airlines also communicated to their customers to underline the responsibility they felt towards them. In combination with the theme of repatriation flights, Air France covered the readiness of the company to help travellers return to their homes in March. By September, the French airline shifted their communication to trying to create a feeling of safety amongst their customers by informing them about additional safety measures taken. Finnair focused on showing its customers that they understood their need for flexibility and offered additional insurance options specifically created for COVID-19. 57
Lufthansa only mentioned their awareness of the new needs of their customers. The British airline did not touch upon the topic in their newsletters.
4.4.7 Repatriation
Repatriation flights were introduced in March 2020 in order to allow travellers to return to their home countries before the strict travel restrictions came into force to limit the spread of COVID-19 (Lytras et al., 2020). Three of the four case airlines played a role in these repatriation flights, however whilst Air France used the term “repatriation”, British Airways referred to the flights as “rescue flights” and Lufthansa called them “evacuation flights”. It is worth noting that Air France mentioned these special fights and the company’s efforts the most, but they also operated around 200 flights bringing back more than 250.000 citizens. Lufthansa ranked second in both the number of comments regarding the repatriation activities and the number of transported travellers. The German airline repatriated about 90.000 vacationers with around 450 flights. With a total of 134 operated flights and approximately 40.000 passengers, British Airways had the lowest number of repatriation flights in their program and did not share as much in their newsletters on the topic. Interestingly, whilst the other two airlines started their special flights in March, British Airways only started talking about rescue flights in April when the other companies were nearing the end of their repatriation efforts.
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1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"Air France has reinforced aircraft cleaning procedures, notably with the disinfection of all surfaces in contact with customers such as armrests, tables and screens, and the introduction of a specific procedure for disinfecting aircraft by spraying an approved virucidal product." (Air France, 2020b) "The airline is cleaning all key surfaces including seats, screens, seat buckles and tray tables after every flight and each aircraft is completely cleaned from nose to tail every day." (British Airways, 2020c) Cleaning "Aircraft cleaning has been intensified." (Finnair, 2020c) "Furthermore, all Lufthansa aircraft cabins are disinfected after each landing." (Lufthansa Group, 2020s)
"The air recycling system on board Air France aircraft is equipped with "High Efficiency Particulate Air" or HEPA filters, identical to those used in hospital operating theatres." (Air France, 2020c) "The air on all British Airways flights is fully recycled once every two to three minutes through HEPA filters, which remove microscopic bacteria HEPA filters and virus clusters with over 99.9% efficiency, equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards." (British Airways, 2020c) "All Lufthansa Group aircraft are equipped with the highest quality air filters, which guarantee air quality similar to that in an operating theatre. In addition, the air circulates vertically instead of being distributed throughout the cabin." (Lufthansa Group, 2020k) Travel safety
"Air France will take into account the current health & hygiene measures in the countries or destinations served to guarantee its passengers the highest level of health safety." (Air France, 2020h) Hygiene & health measures "However, we are delighted to be able to bring back familiar elements of our valued customer service while still taking good care of the hygiene and safety of our customers and staff,..." (Finnair, 2020e) "Lufthansa has removed all reusable and non-safety relevant paper products on board to further reduce the very low risk of infection." (Lufthansa Group, 2020x)
"The wearing of masks will be compulsory on our flights as from 11 May 2020. All customers will have to wear a mask throughout their journey. Customers will be notified of this via all communication channels (email, sms, websites) prior to their departure and will be asked to ensure they possess one or more masks for their trip." (Air France, 2020b) "...wearing a facemask at all times and bringing enough to replace them every four hours for longer flights." (British Airways, 2020c) Masks "...customers now is the requirement wear a mask for the entire duration of the flight." (Finnair, 2020o) "Wearing protection over the mouth and nose is mandatory during boarding, on board and during disembarkation from the aircraft." (Lufthansa Group, 2020x) 59
1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"For pilots who were unable to fly during the Covid-19 crisis, Air France has set up a major cockpit reintegration scheme to guarantee the highest Pilot training level of safety on board its flights." (Air France, 2020d)
"The health and well-being of customers and staff are at the heart of Air France’s concerns." (Air France, 2020b) "Safety is at the heart of British Airways’ business and the airline has introduced a range of measures to keep its customers safe and is asking customers to abide by the new measures to help manage the wellness of everyone travelling." (British Airways, 2020c) "The health and safety of our customers and employees are important to us and we want to make sure that people can fly confidently. For this Safety reason, we have taken into use several measures that increase safety, such as intensified cleaning of aircraft, new practices for boarding and disembarking the aircraft as well as mandatory face masks on flights." (Finnair, 2020k) "Furthermore, with every flight that we resume, Lufthansa places the health and safety of our passengers as our top priority." (Lufthansa Group, 2020s)
"... the current low load factors allow us to respect physical distancing." (Air France, 2020b) "...observing social distancing..." (British Airways, 2020c) Social distancing "Customers are asked to maintain a minimum social distance of 1 meter at the airport." (Finnair, 2020o) Travel safety (cont.) "At the gate, announcements state that the expected distance between passengers should be maintained during the boarding process. Ground markings at the gate and in the boarding bridge also indicate the minimum distance of 1.5 meters." (Lufthansa Group, 2020x)
"Before travelling, Air France recommends its customers contact the relevant authorities to check the entry and travel requirements for their destination and transit countries, which may have changed due to the COVID-19 epidemic." (Air France, 2020h) Recommendations to "Finnair advices travelers to check the destination’s possible entry restrictions before traveling from e.g. IATA’s Travel Centre pages." (Finnair, customers 2020c) "When planning their trip, customers should take the current entry and quarantine regulations of the respective destinations into account." (Lufthansa Group, 2020h)
Temperature check "Air France will progressively implement temperature checks on departure from all its flights. "(Air France, 2020t)
Figure 7: Data structure Travel safety 60
4.5 Travel safety
The fifth dimension revolved around the theme of safety and the measures introduced by airlines in order to encourage travellers to return to travelling. One aspect that plays a crucial role in the revamping of the airline industry is reassuring passengers as it heavily impacts the outlook for the industry (IATA, 2020f; ICAO, 2021). Therefore, it is not surprising that the topic was covered extensively in several categories by all four airlines and the health and hygiene measures are also highly encouraged by the ECDC (2020). In this dimension especially, the content also came from the companies’ web pages as they are often used to share announcements with passengers relating safety tips or frequently asked questions (Taylor & Perry, 2005).
4.5.1 Cleaning
The first theme focused on the airlines communicating about their reinforced and extensive cleaning regiments. Finnair only mentioned increasing the cleaning activities and Lufthansa’s two statements were related to the disinfection of the cabin after each landing as well as the strict cleaning procedures that were introduced. In comparison, British Airways and Air France covered the theme more extensively. Air France provided a range of information regarding the disinfection procedures of the aircraft as well as at the airport. Whilst Air France changed the phrasing and the details in each of the newsletters, British Airways used the same sentence to cover the topic in eleven of the thirteen categories. The remaining two comments where the standard sentence was not used, still utilized parts of that phrase.
4.5.2 HEPA filters
HEPA filters are used in the majority of aircrafts in order to be able to recirculate the air in the cabin more safely (Bull, 2008). Due to these filters, the air in the cabin of an airplane is said to be cleaner than shopping centres or offices (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2020). Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa each covered HEPA filters extensively by sharing the most crucial information with passengers. Each of the three airlines selected to use a standard phrase that was employed each time the topic of HEPA filters is covered. Finnair did not touch upon HEPA filters in their communication with stakeholders.
4.5.3 Hygiene & health measures
Besides the more specific measures that the four case airlines implemented, they also covered the topic of hygiene and health measures more generally in their newsletters and 61
on their web pages. Air France reminded customers that they were keeping a close eye on the changing health situation and might need to adapt their service accordingly. Finnair introduced a new boarding and disembarking practice to its aircrafts and distributed a “Clean Kit” that contained disinfectant wipes, hand sanitisers as well as an information leaflet. British Airways also introduced a personal protection pack that included similar items to Finnair’s “Clean Kit”. Lufthansa focused more on the impact on the ground, such as contactless check-in and the possibility of prolonged waiting times at security checkpoints due to the safety regulations. Furthermore, the German carrier decided to remove paper products on board.
4.5.4 Masks
The wearing of mouth-nose masks is mandatory during flights of all of the four airlines. However, there is a difference in when this obligation was first introduced. Lufthansa first talked about mandatory mask wearing in the end of April and enforced the rule in the beginning of May, closely followed by Air France and Finnair, who both introduced the same measures in the first two weeks of May. British Airways on the other hand, first shared the topic of facemasks in their newsletters in the beginning of July. Again, the UK airline made use of the same phrase regarding the mask usage almost every time the topic was mentioned. The other three companies adapted their comments regarding wearing masks. Finnair stood out as the only airline that additionally provided detailed information on the reasons why masks would be mandatory on their flights and highlighted the fact that wearing a mask is also about protecting the carrier as well as the other people on board.
4.5.5 Pilot training
Due to the travel restrictions and the impact of the pandemic on the airline’s operations, problems arose regarding the validation of pilot licenses. In order to uphold a valid license a certain number of hours had to be absolved either in an aircraft or in a simulator, which due to COVID-19 was difficult to achieve (IATA, 2020e). Only Air France introduced measures for pilots to be able to spend enough time in simulators or on board flying to be able to ensure the highest level of safety (Air France, 2020d).
4.5.6 Safety
In aviation, safety is an important topic and often flying is seen as the safest mode of transport (Stoop & Kahan, 2005), however with the ongoing health crisis the confidence of passengers suffered. The case companies therefore made it their priority to share with 62
their stakeholders how important safety and health is to them to regain the trust of the customers. The French flag carrier focused on assuring the consumers that safety had always been at the centre of their culture. To ensure that consumers can travel with peace of mind, the company shared the various health and hygiene commitments and the adjusted in-flight service, reminding consumers that they were looking to provide the highest level of safety for them. British Airways emphasized the new measures introduced to keep staff and travellers safe. The airline also tried to reassure customers with the fact that the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is deemed low during flying. Additionally, a video introducing the customers to the newest adaptations in the airport and onboard was created. The Finnish airline put an emphasis on the airline’s desire to make flying as safe as possible for everyone, thereby justifying the strict health and safety measures and the adaptations made to the service in the aircraft. Lufthansa followed a similar approach to the other three airlines in their communication. However, they were the only case company that signed the EASA charter for safe flying under pandemic conditions (Lufthansa Group, 2020w). British Airways, on the other hand, was the only airline that directly addressed the fact that a remaining level of worries amongst consumers was expected and inevitable.
4.5.7 Social distancing
Physical distancing has been a big part of everyday life in 2020 and airlines too have had to adjust to this new measure (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2020). Whilst the exact measure of the suggested distance varied, all airlines have repeatedly informed their passengers to observe distancing whenever possible. Air France additionally also covered the adjustments made on the ground, such as for example the use of Plexiglas protection. Finnair and Lufthansa further also included information about the impact on seating arrangements, however they made sure not to promise neighbouring free seats. Before May it was common practice at Lufthansa to keep the neighbour seat free, yet with the introduction of mandatory face masks the company deemed it no longer necessary. Nevertheless, the low load factor allowed the four airlines to still separate passengers easier than pre-COVID-19. British Airways simply mentioned the importance of “observing social distancing” by repeatedly using the same phrase without further information.
4.5.8 Recommendations to customers
Air France, Lufthansa and Finnair specifically made use of the words “recommend”, “remind”, “encourage” and “advise” to inform their customers of what to keep in mind 63
when travelling. The two main topics covered in the recommendations were the entry and travel requirements and mouth-nose masks. The three airlines wanted their customers to check the entry requirements to their destination to ensure a smooth trip. Furthermore, a reminder regarding the wearing of masks was included in several communications. Lufthansa and Finnair also recommended their passengers to make use of online check-in to reduce the necessary contact. Even though British Airways covered these aspects as well, it did not use the same persuasive language in their newsletters or on their web pages.
4.5.9 Temperature check
Air France introduced temperature checks prior to boarding. In the beginning the stakeholders were informed that a temperature of below 38°C would be required for all flights. This information was then later adapted. From July onwards temperature checks were conducted only on specific departing Air France flights to international destinations (Air France, 2020h). The other three airlines did not address any similar temperature measures.
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1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"...extending its Book with Confidence policy for customers booking flights and holidays throughout September 2020." (British Airways, 2020c) "Finnair is offering complimentary COVID-19 insurance cover for customers departing from Finland for the first time." (Finnair, 2020b) Additional services to "With this extended goodwill arrangement, Lufthansa Group Airlines are responding to the wish of many customers to be able to have more customers flexibility regarding their travel plans given the current exceptional circumstances." (Lufthansa Group, 2020g)
"Air France has decided to introduce special, capped fares until 15 April for travelers on repatriation flights." (Air France, 2020u) Capped fares
"Customers will be notified of this via all communication channels (e-mail, sms, websites) prior to their departure." (Air France, 2020c) ".... affected passengers will be informed of the changes and rebooking options as of today." (Lufthansa Group, 2020j) "As of today, passengers will be comprehensively informed about the new requirements, including on the airlines' websites and social media channels, as well as via e-mail and via SMS." (Lufthansa Group, 2020o) Communication with passengers
New and adjusted "In view of the magnitude of this crisis and the number of cancellations, it will take longer than usual to process the transactions." (Air France, services 2020l) "We have made considerable additions to the personnel processing the requests and have also developed robots to speed up the process." Delay in service (Finnair, 2020k) "Due to the current situation, Lufthansa Group Service Centers and stations are recording an exceptionally high number of customer contacts. The Lufthansa Group is continuously working to adjust capacity to meet demand. However, there are currently long waiting times, which unfortunately means that the processing of customer requests can be delayed." (Lufthansa Group, 2020f)
"...offering its customers fully-flexible tickets to help them prepare for their trip in complete confidence and to postpone or cancel their trip easily Flight cancellation in the event of unforeseen circumstances..." (Air France, 2020a) "Finnair will communicate flight cancellations directly to customers who have bookings on these flights. Customers can then either seek for a full ticket refund or postpone their travel by contacting Finnair’s customer services." (Finnair, 2020f)
"Air France has set up a repatriation crisis centre to ensure these operations run smoothly. "(Air France, 2020u) "We believe the best way to get people flying again is to introduce reliable and affordable testing before flying." (British Airways, 2020g) Service expansion "With this new and so far unique offer, we want to help ensure that our guests can spend their summer holidays in Europe as carefree as possible." (Lufthansa Group, 2020x)
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1st order categories 2nd order themes Aggregate dimensions
"Customers whose flights were affected over recent months and who claimed a voucher can use it towards the flights." (British Airways, 2020b) "Between February and June, we have paid over 270 million euros to customers in refunds for flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation." (Finnair, 2020k) Voucher "In the current year, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group have so far reimbursed around 2.6 billion euros to a total of 6 million customers (as of 02.09.2020)." (Lufthansa Group, 2020v) New and adjusted services (cont.)
"... full details on the health & hygiene measures click here." (Air France, 2020e) "Please click here for more details of British Airways’ book with confidence commitment." (British Airways, 2020b) Website reference "Flights according to the updated flight programme can be found on Finnair’s website finnair.com." (Finnair, 2020i) "Lufthansa passengers who are planning a trip in the coming weeks are recommended to check the current status of the respective flight on lufthansa.com before departure." (Lufthansa Group, 2020j)
Figure 8: Data structure New and adjusted services 66
4.6 New and adjusted services
The pandemic put the airline industry in an unprecedented situation where they needed to adjust their way of operating in order to allow passengers and staff to be safe. Many airlines introduced measures that provided travellers with more flexibility and thereby hopefully increasing consumer confidence. The services that were introduced by the four case airlines were mostly very similar and were implemented to give customers peace of mind when looking to travel or handle past travel plans that had to be changed due to the pandemic.
4.6.1 Additional services to customers
Due to the decreased possibility to travel during the pandemic the first change a lot of airlines introduced was the adaptation of change and cancellation policies (Adams & Lupini, 2021). The four case companies covered the possibilities for passengers extensively throughout the data collection period. However, Lufthansa shared information regarding the eligibility and change process most often and over the course of the pandemic adjusted their policies further to also include later booking dates. The German flag carrier also adapted its communication to the perceived needs of the customers. In March, at the beginning of the public health crisis in Europe, the focus of the newsletters was on the possibilities of rebooking flights for free. Later, the emphasis shifted to sharing details on the cooperation with insurance partners to offer a more comprehensive travel insurance. Towards the fall of 2020, the topic of pre-flight COVID- 19 tests was brought up and shared with readers. A similar trend is seen within Finnair’s and British Airways’ newsletters, whilst Air France only mentioned increasing their commercial measures to allow customers to travel with confidence. Additionally, British Airways and Finnair also covered the provision of a hygiene kit to its travellers. In general, the emphasis of the adjustment in the service offerings was placed on increasing the confidence amongst customers and for them to return to travelling safely.
4.6.2 Capped fares
Air France, as the only one of the four case airlines, offered travellers capped fares for the repatriation flights that it flew in March and April of 2020. The idea behind the capped fares was to allow travellers to pay a standard price of, for example, 300€ for a medium-haul flight to France. This offer was introduced to ensure that all travellers who wanted to return to France could do so without the demand for these limited flights 67
increasing the prices. The other three airlines did not share any insights into how they treated the pricing of repatriation tickets.
4.6.3 Communication with passengers
In the newsletters the airlines mentioned the efforts they had engaged in to communicate the new measures and possible service changes to their customers. When Air France first made wearing a mask mandatory on board, they notified customers via e-mail, SMS and their websites. Lufthansa, too, followed this approach and later on also used these channels to share new requirements with passengers. Furthermore, Lufthansa made videos to inform travellers of the updated hygiene measures and possible changes in the travel experience. Finnair, on the other hand, highlighted the positive impact the consumers’ messages had left on the employees and the company. Compared to the two Central European airlines, the Finnish carrier chose to use the platform to thank consumers rather than publish information on how they reached customers. British Airways did not specifically mention the communication with its passengers in the newsletters.
4.6.4 Delay in service
During the first months of the outbreak in Europe, the airlines were flooded with consumer requests for refunds or a change in flight data. Air France, Finnair and Lufthansa all covered this overwhelming influx in demand and apologized to their passengers about the longer than usual waiting times and delays in service. In the same communications, Finnair and Lufthansa also informed the consumers of the additional increase in capacity on their service centres’ side and Finnair even developed robots to increase the pace of refund processes. It is noteworthy that Lufthansa, in the three newsletters where the topic was addressed, used very similar phrasing that was adapted but not directly copied. The UK flag carrier did not include any information on possible delays in their services due to an increase in demand.
4.6.5 Flight cancellation
Closely related to the theme of additional services, is the topic of flight cancellations. A crucial part for the airlines seemed to be communicating to consumers about what options are available once a flight has been cancelled or how to change bookings. British Airways did not touch on this subject in their newsletters, but the remaining three airlines followed similar approaches. All three informed the customers of the new commercial policies that were in place during these exceptional times. Additionally, they 68
pointed out to customers how to proceed if a flight had been cancelled by the airline or what options a traveller had if they decided not to take a trip. Based on the newsletters, the consumers were informed of changes made to the flight schedule via various channels and they were offered rebooking, refunding or vouchers for flights that were not taken. Argenti (2020) highlighted the importance of providing consumers with relief when it is possible for the company and praised JetBlue as the first airline who decided to allow travellers to change their bookings or cancel trips at no extra cost. This step is taken in order to build confidence in the passengers and uphold the reputation of the company in the mind of the consumers (Argenti, 2020).
4.6.6 Service expansion
Aside from the expansion of rebooking and cancellation options, some of the airlines added new services or new company units in order to better serve their customers. Air France, for example, established an operational crisis unit in April 2020 in order to be able to coordinate the special flights organized for the repatriation of citizens. Furthermore, starting in the summer months the French flag carrier also established a partnership with two laboratories to offer travellers with Air France tickets to get tested for COVID-19 prior to a flight, for free. Lufthansa decided to offer a unique service called “Bring me Home”, which guaranteed travellers a return flight, in case the pandemic situation required a passenger to quickly return to Germany, Austria or Switzerland (Lufthansa, 2021). This new service was covered extensively in the communication in the newsletters and on the company website. British Airways did not introduce or share information on a newly added service. However, they emphasized the importance of reliable and affordable testing before boarding a flight for travelling to return. Nevertheless, this was a desire or a demand that did not entail actions implemented by the British carrier. Finally, Finnair did not introduce further services for consumers during the pandemic.
4.6.7 Vouchers & reimbursement
As a consequence of cancelled and postponed flights, the case companies offered a large number of customers compensations for their flight tickets as suggested by Argenti (2020). British Airways touched on the subject by sharing that customers who had been affected by a cancelled flight had the right to claim a voucher, which could be used in the purchase of future tickets. The company used the same sentence in all of its communications. The remaining three case companies rather focused on highlighting the amount of refunds that they had processed, underlining the extraordinary amount of 69
claims they had received. Air France for example processed around two million requests in the first six months of the pandemic, refunding 1.1 billion euros (Air France, 2020k). Finnair paid 400 million euros in refunds to customers over the same timeframe (Finnair, 2020l). Finally, Lufthansa, who received three times as many refund applications as during a regular year, reimbursed around 2.8 billion euros to approximately 6.6 million customers (Lufthansa Group, 2020y).
4.6.8 Website references
In the newsletters the airlines often mentioned a connection with a certain part of the company website where further information on a particular issue could be found. Websites are deemed a resource that is easily accessible to a wide range of people and therefore suitable for communicating with stakeholders in times of crises (Stephens & Malone, 2010). The airlines especially referred their consumers to the websites when additional details on health and hygiene measures, changes in booking or refund policies or updated flight programmes were given. In addition, the pages of partner companies, such as insurance companies or laboratories were often linked to the newsletters. Moreover, Lufthansa for example shared a link to a form in case a passenger could not wear a mask for medical reasons. By including these links, the initial message was provided to the consumer and the necessary further sources were directly linked to simplify the consumers information-gathering experience.
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5 DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to examine how companies were communicating to their stakeholders during times of crisis. The topic of crisis communication was researched with focus on the airline industry during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020. This chapter summarizes and discusses the central findings of the study and links them to the findings of previous research.
The chapter first introduces the key findings of the review of airlines’ communication via newsletters and websites with their external stakeholders. Second, the theoretical contributions of the study are highlighted before elaborating on the limitations of the research. The section focusing on limitations also provides suggestions for future research in the area. Lastly, the chapter ends with concluding remarks.
5.1 Key findings
The purpose of this thesis was to learn more about crisis communication and then to analyse the communication engaged in by airlines during the ongoing public health crisis. The study of the newsletters and websites of the four case companies provided relevant insights and examples which build on the past literature that was collected with regards to crisis management and airline communication in crisis situations. The comparison of the material shared online with stakeholders over the eight-month time frame, allowed for a better understanding on what topics are deemed important and how companies decide to communicate with their consumers. The study found that the main topics addressed by the airlines during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on the following topics: “status quo”, “emotional framing of messages”, “future of aviation”, “responsibility to the stakeholders”, “travel safety” and “new and adjusted services”. By covering these topics in their communications, focusing on improving the reputation and creating a connection with the stakeholders, the companies engaged in the rebuilding and bolstering posture as identified by Coombs (2007c). These six umbrella terms were of particular concern to the four case companies between March and November of 2020. However, the extent of detail each topic was covered by the respective companies differed, indicating that some topics were deemed more important by one company, whilst a second company rather focused on a different aspect.
According to Tse et al. (2006), a big part of crisis communication is concerned with responding to an ongoing situation and assessing the damage that has been done by the crisis event. The comparative case study found this to be true in the COVID-19 pandemic, 71
as the airlines were sharing information on the developing crisis whilst also pointing out how the industry in general was impacted. Moreover, they ensured to communicate how they were handling the current restrictions and how they operated in these unprecedented times. Coombs & Holladay (2010) also highlighted the importance of providing information to the stakeholders in order for them to feel confidence and rely on the measures taken by the airlines and the governments. Consistent with the previous literature, the airlines therefore adapted their communication to reflect their understanding of the stakeholders’ needs (Benoit, 1997). The companies concentrated on communicating about the measures put in place to ensure the safety of the passengers in an effort to increase the trust of travellers. This type of communication had a twofold reason. On the one hand, the companies wanted to show the customers that they were at the centre of their business operations and that they deeply care about their thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, communicating about the safety of travelling was also looking to boost the demand amongst passengers, without directly pushing consumers to book flights.
A big part of the airlines’ communication touched upon the responsibility they felt towards their stakeholders. A difference was found in the way the airlines were looking to create positive associations between the company and the public. Whilst some of the case companies covered topics such as the commitment to their consumers and their employees, others focused on the services they delivered to their community. For example, Air France and British Airways informed the readers about donations they made to various NGOs or the volunteering of their staff members with health care providers. In general, these messages were primarily directed at establishing a positive corporate reputation in the mind of the stakeholders, as this was crucial for companies to be able to be profitable after the crisis (Seo & Park, 2017).
Another key finding revolved around the applicability of crisis communication strategies during the current public health crisis. Upon looking through the communication of the four airlines, it became obvious that there were differences between the literature and the actual messages shared by the companies. Coombs (2007c) presented four crisis response postures, ranging from denial posture, via diminishing and rebuilding, to bolstering posture. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is more similar to a natural disaster than a product failure, response strategies such as scapegoating, denial or attacking the accuser do not apply. Furthermore, the public is aware of the global reach of the public health crisis and therefore limiting the need for excusing or justification from the 72
companies. Some of the communications by the airlines could be categorized as rebuilding or bolstering, especially when it came to the organizational decisions that had to be made in order to reduce the negative economic impact on the company. As a result, the airlines apologized to the staff that had to be let go and the consumers they could not serve as planned. Additionally, the aviation companies reminded the customers of the emphasis that was placed on the safety of passengers and staff.
Nevertheless, the crisis response strategies did not entirely find application in the aviation industry during this public health crisis. Part of the reason might be that the airlines could not influence the occurrence of the pandemic and therefore, could also not be held responsible in the same way as maybe during an aircraft crash. This impacted the choice of strategies used and left the companies without a recommended strategy to be used in such a situation. Moreover, Ahmed (2006) correctly pointed out there is a difference in a sudden, short-term crisis and a slow-burning crisis that keeps developing. The pandemic was developing slowly since the beginning of 2020 and required the airlines to adjust their communications based on the newest stage of the health crisis and the measures imposed by governments and organizations. This was reflected in the airlines’ communication as the messages covered different topics throughout the eight- month period and various messaging frames were applied.
Even though the data from the companies were only collected during the actual crisis stage, the changing approach selected by the airlines throughout the months was obvious. However, as the public health crisis has not ended yet, drawing a conclusion on the effectiveness of the implemented crisis communication strategies is not possible. Nevertheless, when comparing the four case companies, certain differences and similarities were discovered. Although all four companies are Europe-based airlines, there are differences in the values, in the corporate culture and in the company leadership that impact the messages that are communicated with stakeholders. For example, Air France and British Airways were more similar in the way they communicated and regarding the topics they deemed important. At the same time, Lufthansa’s and Finnair’s approaches to crisis communication were alike, for example in the way they communicated about the implemented health and safety measures put into place. These differences in the communications may also be based on the approach to communication in general that a culture has. British Airways’ messages, even though very limited in numbers, tended to be more extensive and insightful compared to Air France, who communicated more frequently and with a personal touch in the newsletters 73
and press releases. Lufthansa and Finnair communicated most often and ensured that their stakeholders were kept up to date. These two companies balanced the three categories of information better, ensuring that stakeholders were provided with the instructing information, the adjusting information when necessary and subtly also weaving reputational repair into their communications as suggested by Coombs (2015).
5.2 Theoretical contributions
Based on the key findings, the study has three important theoretical contributions to academic literature. Firstly, the findings add to the crisis communication literature in the niche of the aviation industry. Past literature covering the topic of crisis communication often does not apply its findings in a specific industry, but rather on a specific crisis type. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature of crisis communication strategies applied by airlines. Moreover, several past studies focus on aircraft crashes, in other words, the times when a product fails or an organization is at fault, which differs greatly from an unintended crisis situation such as a natural disaster or a global pandemic. This study therefore introduces six dimensions (i.e., status quo, emotional, responsibility to the stakeholders ,travel safety & new and adjusted services) that highlight not only how airlines operate in crises but also how public health crises demand a different communication approach.
Secondly, previous literature covers crises that are not only very sudden in nature, but also impact an organization over a shorter period in time. The pandemic has been slowly evolving and has been impacting the airline companies and the entire industry since early spring 2020. The longer time frame demands a different communication approach from the companies, in order to uphold the reputation in the stakeholders’ minds. Moreover, with the changing regulations and the rise and fall in infection numbers, great flexibility is needed in the crisis communication of the airlines. The past research has not covered an event of such duration and therefore no information has been gathered on communication strategies over an extended time period in one industry.
Finally, the findings from the comparative case study act as a base for future research to be done in the field of crisis communication in the aviation industry. Research that includes the analysis of actual excerpts of crisis communication shared by airlines is very limited and mostly focuses on the communication after the crash of an airplane. Now, with the addition of an analysis regarding a different crisis type, the literature has been extended and future research can compare the findings of this thesis with their results 74
and draw conclusions accordingly. Furthermore, the similarities and differences amongst the companies’ communication approaches provide a basis for further studies.
5.3 Limitations and suggestions for future research
The thesis has three major limitations, which will be covered in this subchapter whilst also providing suggestions for future research. The first limitation was based on the scope of the thesis, as data from the companies was only collected once the crisis had started. This means that no information on the pre-crisis communication of the companies was included and as the crisis is still ongoing, no data from the post-crisis stage could be incorporated. Therefore, a more longitudinal study is recommended that includes all three stages of a crisis and could be used to point out the transition in topics covered in the different stages more clearly.
Secondly, the study was delimited to European airlines, excluding the possibility of considerable cultural differences in the communication. The four case companies all are based in countries that have very similar values and communicate in a comparable way. However, it would be interesting for future research to look into the impact of culture on the crisis communication in a global health crisis. A study could focus on airlines from different continents and compare their approach to crisis communication during COVID-19, whilst also shedding a light on the impact of measures taken by nations to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, another topic of interest for future research could be the differences in communication on different platforms, for example social media communication compared to the content covered in the newsletters or on the company web pages.
Lastly, the thesis was focusing on a very specific sector and then researched a niche by selecting large, well-established European airlines. Therefore, pure cargo companies, smaller airlines as well as LCCs were excluded from the research and the findings cannot easily be transferred to these other areas in the aviation industry. Future studies could research the communication strategies of LCCs in comparison to those of flag carriers and whether the business model impacts the choices of communication strategies in a crisis. 75
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APPENDIX 1 CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE TYPES OF CRISES ACCORDING TO LITERATURE
Authors, Year Types of crises Meyers & Holusha, 1986 Crisis in public perception, sudden market shifts, product failures, top management succession, cash crises, industrial (cited in Fall & Massey, relations crises, hostile takeovers, adverse international events, and governmental regulation/deregulation 2005) Mitroff et al., 1987 - Internal & technical/economic failure (e.g. Industrial accidents) - external & technical/economic failure (e.g. Hostile takeover bids; currency problems) - Internal & failure of human/organizational/social process (e.g. Human error) - External & failure of human/organizational/social process (e.g. Product sabotage) Mitroff, 1988 Major product defects, major plant/equipment defects, major industrial accidents, major computer breakdowns, hostile takeovers, onsite sabotage/product tampering, offsite sabotage/product tampering, counterfeiting, false rumours/malicious slander, bribery/price fixing, sexual harassment, terrorism, executive kidnapping, poor or faulty operator training, copycat threats, recalls, boycotts, loss of proprietary information, misinformation/miscommunication Pearson & Clair, 1998 Extortion, bribery, hostile takeover, information sabotage, product tampering, workplace bombing, vehicular fatality, terrorist attack, copyright infringement, plant explosion, environmental spill, sexual harassment, computer tampering, escape of hazardous materials, security breach, executive kidnapping, personnel assault, product/service boycott, assault of customers, work-related homicide, product recall, malicious rumour, counterfeiting, natural disaster that disrupts a major productor service, natural disaster that destroys a corporate headquarters, natural disaster that destroys organizational information base, natural disaster that eliminates key stakeholders Coombs, 2000 Rumours, natural disasters, malevolence, accidents, misdeeds Coombs & Holladay, 2002 Rumour, natural disaster, malevolence/product tampering, workplace violence, challenge, technical breakdown, accident, technical breakdown product recall, mega damage, human breakdown accident, human breakdown product recall, organizational misdeeds (without injury of external stakeholders), management misconduct, and organizational misdeeds (with injury to external stakeholders)
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Authors, Year Types of crises Coombs, 2004; - Victim Crisis Cluster: Natural disaster, rumour, workplace violence, product tampering/malevolence Coombs, 2007d; - Accidental Crisis Cluster: Challenges, technical error accidents, technical error recalls Coombs, 2014 - Intentional Crisis Cluster: human error accidents, human error recalls, organizational misdeed Later versions: intentional -> preventable cluster: + organizational misdeed with no injuries, organizational misdeed management misconduct, organizational misdeed with injuries Mitroff, 2005; Economic, informational, physical, human resources, reputational, psychopathic acts, natural disasters Mitroff & Anagnos, 2001 (cited in Fall & Massey, 2005) Ahmed, 2006 - Cobra type: sudden unexpected crisis, e.g. Exxon Valdez - Python type: slow-burning crisis, developing issue by issue, e.g. Intel’s Pentium chip; Examples: bankruptcy, corporate fraud, repeated negligence Greyser, 2009 Product failure, social responsibility gap, corporate misbehaviour, executive misbehaviour, poor business results, spokesperson misbehaviour and controversy, death of symbol of company, loss of public support, controversial ownership Dutta & Pullig, 2011 - Performance-related: includes faulty products that negatively impact the brand’s reputation of functional benefit (e.g. Lead in Mattel toys) - Values-related: involves social/moral issues concerning the values the brand stands for (e.g. Nike’s alleged use of child labour) Lerbinger, 2012 - Crisis of the physical world: Natural disasters and technology, - Crisis of Human climate: Confrontation and Malevolence, - Crisis of Management failure: Mismanagement, Skewed Values, Deception, and Misconduct Schwarz et al., 2016 War, terrorism, natural disasters/pandemia, organizational crises, societal/political crisis