Communication in a Crisis: Indonesia AirAsia

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Excerpts....

On December 28, 2014, the Indonesia AirAsia QZ8501 flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya after 5:30 am. At 6: 12 am, one of the pilots communicated through the radio with the air traffic control requesting permission to climb from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet and to turn toward the left to avoid bad weather. The air traffic control permitted the pilot to turn but not to increase altitude. At 6:18 am, the air traffic control observed that the plane had disappeared from the radar. By 7: 55 am, it was officially confirmed that the flight had gone missing and was reportedly last seen flying over the Java Sea. On December 29, 2014, with the flight having missed the landing schedule at the Singapore airport, Search and Rescue (SAR) operations were activated by BASARNAS. The Singapore air force and the navy also used two C-130 planes to hunt for the missing aircraft.

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Soon after Fernandes got to know about the missing flight, he posted on Twitter, “ [I] as your group CEO will be there through these hard times. We will go through this terrible ordeal together.” In another message, he said, “Be strong. Continue to be the best. Pray hard.” Three hours later, he was on his way to Surabaya and said, “My only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysian governments........

On December 30, 2014, Indonesia AirAsia confirmed that debris found floating on the Java Sea was wreckage belonging to the crashed Indonesia AirAsia flight and said, “AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th December 2014. The debris of the aircraft was found in the Karimata Strait around 110 nautical miles south west from Pangkalan Bun........

After announcing that the Indonesia AirAsia flight had crashed into the Java Sea, Fernandes apologized to the families of the passengers and crew for the loss of their loved ones and said that he would honor Indonesia AirAsia’s obligations to them, including by paying compensation. Addressing the media, Fernandes said, “We are prepared, and we will not be running away from any of our obligations........

Some experts opined that Fernandes and the Indonesia AirAsia team had been exemplary in their communication all through the crisis. They said that Indonesia AirAsia clearly had a crisis plan in place that was articulated. Some analysts said that Fernandes and his team had demonstrated clear, action-led leadership. They felt that there was accurate and frequent communication and an authentic, heart-felt compassion that was often missing among market-driven CEOs..........

Though experts praised Indonesia AirAsia for handling the crisis, they cautioned that it had a long way to go before it could put the disaster behind it. There could be a falloff in passengers from Indonesia, since most of the victims hailed from the country. Being the biggest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia was an important market for Indonesia AirAsia.........

The 2007 ban by EC that prevented Indonesian airlines from entering the EU airspace encouraged the latter to make significant improvements in safety. The results of this exercise were seen when the EC lifted the ban in 2009. However, in May 2014, the CAO of Indonesia found that Indonesian airlines were performing below 40 percent in 5 out of the 8 safety categories and below the global average in all categories. Commenting on the ratings by the CAO, Herry Bakti Gumay, the then director general of civil aviation, said, “We have addressed 80-90 percent of issues on the ICAO’s compliance checklist, including the number of inspectors, air traffic controllers, and safety regulations..........

Exhibit I: Financial Statement for AirAsia
Exhibit II: Change in Color of Indonesia AirAsia’s Logo on Social Media Pages