Air Asia’s handling of the entire incident was lauded by the public as well as the media. However, the next incident that we are going to watch in this lesson, although similar in nature was handled in a very slipshod manner by the authorities and was criticised by everybody.
Take this lesson to learn more.
Disappeared!
The same year, a similar crisis had befallen another regional player, Malaysia Airlines.
At 01:19:30 hours on 8th March 2014, Captain Shah, pilot of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, with 12 crew members and 227 passengers flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, acknowledged a send-off by Lumpur Radar to Ho Chi Minh ACC.
It was the last verbal contact the pilot would make.
At 07:24 MYT, one hour after the scheduled arrival time of the flight at Beijing, the Airline authorities made an announcement that contact with the airline had been lost and that a search-and-rescue operation had been initiated.
In contrast to Air Asia
In comparison to Air Asia’s crisis communication, Malaysia Airlines’ communication strategy, in the aftermath of the tragedy, was questionable. In the initial hours following the disaster, the airline maintained a veil of secrecy and people were kept in the dark.
The airline’s response betrayed – or at least projected – a lack of urgency or transparency in releasing information and coordination on where to search, according to media outlets . Commentators noticed a pronounced reluctance on the part of the airline to even admit there was a problem. They also noted a lapse in taking appropriate steps to deal with the crisis for a couple of hours after the tragedy had unfolded, due to the lack of resources and capability to resolve the problem.
The airline’s initial response to the disappearance on 8 March consisted of a first statement at 7.24am, around five hours after the loss of contact with the plane.
