It’s been a bad year for airlines, says Marketing Week
‘Damaging mistakes’ by airlines such as British Airways, United and Ryanair have put the industry under the spotlight in 2017 and similar problems are likely next year as carriers are put under constant cost pressure, according to an end-of-year report.
Marketing Week’s annual year in review has included the airline industry in a round up of sectors that 2017 has been a bad year for.
The round-up says: "Crisis management in the airline sector came in for serious scrutiny in 2017 as the cracks started to show for brands from British Airways to Ryanair.
"The turbulence began in April when video footage emerged of security officers dragging passenger Dr David Dao off a United Airlines flight in Chicago after he refused to give up his seat on an overbooked flight."
Marketing Week said United’s ‘Fly the friendly skies’ motto was derided and chief executive Oscar Munoz was criticised for his mishandling of the situation when he described Dr Dao as ‘disruptive and belligerent’ in a leaked email.
The airline was mentioned more than 2.5 million times in two days between April 9 and 11, with 68.9% of the mentions negative, according to Brandwatch figures.
British Airways’ IT failure that affected 75,000 travellers when flights were cancelled from Gatwick and Heathrow in May affected the airline’s public image.
"BA’s YouGov BrandIndex score plummeted 9.5 points in the week after the crisis, with consumer purchase intent falling 8.5 points," said Marketing Week.
Ryanair’s ‘mess up’ over pilot rotas, which led to the cancellation of over 2,000 flights is the third air-travel crisis to be scrutinised by Marketing Week.
The report concludes: "Airlines’ brand success has long been based on price and availability but consumers are ready to punish any brand that fails to live up to its promises, and the constant cost pressure caused by intense price competition is making these damaging mistakes more and more likely."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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