Well hasn’t Qantas had an interesting month! The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd (QANTAS) has been blighted by ongoing problems with its planes, including emergency landings. Only this morning, passengers were forced off a Qantas plane in Melbourne bound for Sydney after a brake problem.
In Australia, Qantas is billed as the national airline. The brand has tapped into the passionate Aussie patriotism and established a nationwide brand loyalty that British Airways can only dream. Their adverts are iconic.
I used to live in Australia and often flew with Qantas on internal flights. I may love their adverts but I would never consider flying with them long haul because their service on the short haul flights was so poor. My partner who travels extensively with work also feels the same and has always had a bad experience with them.
As a member of Qantas’s Frequent Flyers programme, I have been surprised by their lack of communication and reassurance over the past few weeks. I received my first and only correspondence from them about their aircraft problems on November 24 – almost 20 days after the first incident. When it finally arrived the communication was a very dry email from their CEO.
Instead of reassuring their Frequent Flyers and focusing on crisis communications, it seems Qantas have turned their attention to social media. They have just launched both an official Twitter account and a profile for their media department focused on breaking news.
Whilst I approve of Qantas reaching out through social media, I fear their focus is on on generating PR rather than crisis management. They are already making the most of PR opportunities surrounding the Ashes cricket tournament by wading into the Ashes hype on Twitter.
