Modern commercial aviation is a safe and reliable means of transportation. However, airline disasters may involve hundreds of passengers and tens of flight personnel. Since aviation disasters involve so many people directly and the victims’ loved ones indirectly, aircraft disaster is reported widely around the world. Moreover, how the crisis is handled has wide-ranging and long-term impacts on the airline companies involved. Therefore, competent crisis communications are a significant part of crisis management.
Your assignment is to read “Leadership and communication during a crisis – The case of Tony Fernandes (AirAsia) and Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (Malaysia Airlines)” and critique the external crisis communications made by Ahmad Jauhari (i.e., the spokesperson) after the disappearance/crash of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner. Include a synopsis of the situation and a profile of the main spokesperson. Provide an after-action review. What did the spokesperson do well and what did the spokesperson do poorly?
Next, develop an internal crisis communication plan to inform internal stakeholders of the crisis. Given the lessons of the after-action review, provide an outline of a crisis communication plan for the airline given an airline crash. (The outline of the crisis communication plan may be appended to the assignment following the reference page.)
References:
Perepu, I. & Mikkilineni, S.. 2021. Leadership and communication during a crisis – The case of Tony Fernandes (AirAsia) and Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (Malaysia Airlines). Links to an external site.” IUP Journal of Organizational Behavior 20(4): 167–84.
Ready.gov (2021, February 17). Crisis communication plan. https://www.ready.gov/crisis-communications-plan