Navigating Turbulence: Crisis Communication of Airlines in the Philippines during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The recent coronavirus pandemic was a black swan event, and the airline industry was one of the most stricken. The crisis that airlines had to face during the pandemic was not just a health-related crisis but a consequential one within their own canceled flights, rebooking concerns, and a surge in refund requests they lacked the liquidity to address. Communication with stakeholders is even more crucial in times of distress. How airlines respond to the crisis shapes their reputation and future engagements. This study aims to discuss what the pandemic prompted in the Twitter communication of the three leading airlines in the Philippines, providing an insight into how they behaved before and during the pandemic, focusing on their message content and delivery strategy. Utilizing a descriptive-qualitative research design, the study thematically analyzes airlines’ tweets and customer responses. The study contributes communication strategies that can help airlines instill confidence among passengers during and after a crisis, with an emphasis on instructing information, human connection, empathy, and responsiveness, and demonstrates how airlines can strategically optimize the microblogging platform in crisis communication and customer service support.

Keywords

• airline industry
• covid-19
• crisis communication
• twitter