Among the world’s most prepared communications professionals are those who, at the sharp end of mass transport, must be ready to respond to any catastrophe, 24-hours a day. Ship, plane or rail disasters rank top among corporate crisis situations, bringing with them the tragic mix of multiple casualties, grieving relatives, recrimination and blame. Responding to the public’s morbid fascination with disaster, the media diverts all available resources to catch the wave of readership and viewing figures.

1. Crisis communications
Air France 447: a quick case study
By Ronald Hepburn and Betsy Garbacz Rawson
Among the world’s most prepared communications professionals
are those who, at the sharp end of mass transport, must be ready
to respond to any catastrophe, 24-hours a day. Ship, plane or
rail disasters rank top among corporate crisis situations, bringing
with them the tragic mix of multiple casualties, grieving relatives,
recrimination and blame. Responding to the public’s morbid
fascination with disaster, the media diverts all available resources
to catch the wave of readership and viewing figures.
The recent Air France disaster, mid-Atlantic globally to other organisations, so it
between Brazil and North Africa, had all the ought to be instructive to see how their
hallmarks of a 70s disaster movie: “What team handled this crisis and what the
happened to flight AF 447?” This article outcome has been. Air France Consulting
examines what happened to Air France’s sets the objectives of a crisis system as:
reputation as a result – the acid test of good
crisis planning – but serves only as a brief Set up a structure with variable geometry
review of Air France’s initial response and by taking into account human factors
actions following the disappearance and and the organisational dimension:
resulting search efforts for the plane and • Predict and limit the impact of crises
passengers. At time of writing, no official • Ensure your company’s continued existence
blame had been placed on any organisation. • Maintain activity in case of crisis
The media information was collected • Come to the assistance of
from BBC online coverage of the tragedy victims and their families
in the week following the disappearance • Optimise the means available
of flight AF 447, and Air France has not • Meet your regulatory and
been interviewed for this article. contractual obligations
Prior to the crash, Air France enjoyed Looking at the coverage of the event and
a reputation as one of the world’s best comparing it with the releases that Air
crisis-handling organisations; the France distributed, it is clear that events
company sells its crisis consultancy happened fast, and that Air France was on
www.criticaleye.net 01

2. the ball very quickly . The surprise might
Timeline of a crisis communiTy commenT
be that so few of their releases actually
It is telling to look at the first 48 hours of related to the disaster or its causes. Donal McCabe, Corporate
a crisis and compare what the company Communications Director,
says with what the media says. In total, they issued 17 separate Land Securities plc
communications on the crisis, three The Air France 447 disaster seems to
As the story broke on 1st June, it was confirm that in these sorts of crises,
related directly to news about the flight
unclear whether the plane had crashed. communication teams have to tread
and potential causes, the rest giving details
A plane was missing, no one knew carefully between wanting to help the
why. Air France issued six releases of passenger nationalities, expressing
media and public and the need to be
on June 1st, acknowledging that the sympathy to families and friends of the
mindful of not adding to the speculation
plane went missing, the nationalities victims, thanking the authorities for their or prejudicing any future inquiry.
of the passengers and sympathy and search efforts, details of funerals, memorial Crises, by their nature, are fast moving
support for their families and friends. services and how Air France was aiding and stressful with the initial few hours
The BBC headlines on June 1st were: victims’ families. So if Air France wasn’t in often chaotic as the media demand to
charge of the news, who was? And was Air know what has happened and begin
French plane lost in ocean storm
France’s seemingly laissez faire approach to run theories. The temptation to get
NI person on board lost airliner to the core of the crisis the right one? caught up in this frenzy is great.
Mystery surrounding Air France flight This is where Ron’s tips are spot-on:
Broadly speaking, news was driven by the
Have a view on how you would react,
In Pictures: Air France plane vanishes Brazilian authorities, Defence Minister, Air stick to facts, update regularly (even if
Force and Navy, and on the French side, it is to say there is no new news), ensure
On June 2nd, Air France issued the Defence Minister, Military Officials someone senior gets to the incident site,
five releases, all regarding the and the Air Safety Investigation Agency, do concentrate your initial efforts on the
passengers and crew details and who took lead roles to search for the plane people affected and above all, ensure
how Air France is offering to support you resolve to find out what happened
and passengers. They were supported
to families and friends. The BBC and tell people how you will do that.
headlines on June 2nd were: by speculation from air disaster experts,
aerospace specialists and later the French
Accidents do happen; the companies
Atlantic searched for lost plane government, who stepped up quickly to
that survive them are those that
the microphone. This would seem to fly recognise their gravity, help those
Missing plane dominates papers
in the face of best practice as illustrated involved and are seen to care about
Schoolboy, 11, on missing flight by the chief executive of British Midland ensuring it does not happen again.
following the crash involving Flight 092. Sir
Riverdance star on lost airliner Michael Bishop’s immediate attendance
at the scene of the disaster on the M1 Townsend Torensen, by way of contrast, is no
Walls family statement
in the 1989, which claimed 47 lives, has more; its logos painted over soon after the
Tribute to Scot on missing plane been much applauded. Sir Michael was incident by P&O Ferries, its reputation cursed
rightly held up as a great example of a boss not only by the disaster but by poor handling
Families’ fears for plane missing
showing concern and compassion and acting of the media in its aftermath. When the
Tribute to missing plane father responsibly in extremis. British Midland media called, the company went to ground.
gained reputation points with the media
What’s being said on the Web and the public and the company avoided the So how has Air France done on the reputation
desperate damage to its reputation suffered front? If carrying on business as usual is the
Storm threat to modern aircraft
by Townsend Torenson, the ill-fated ferry criterion, then it has done well. Even in the
In Pictures: Air France search continues company that lost the M.S. Herald of Free days after the crash, as the debris of flight
Enterprise outside the port of Zeebruge AF 447 was being lifted out of the Atlantic,
Passenger nationalities revealed in 1987 with the loss of many lives. Air France continued to announce company
Grief and fear in Brazil over lost plane news and take bookings. Has the company’s
The contrast in eventual fortunes of the two business been adversely affected by the
Plane searchers spot ocean debris companies is worth noting. BMI was given crash? Probably not, or at least not so you’d
permission by the media and the public to notice in a market badly affected by the
UK dentist on board missing plane
keep running and become more successful, global recession. If Air France fails, it won’t
with a highly respected chief executive. be the Atlantic crash that brings them down.
The company released limited information in a
timely manner and it was accurate, if sparse
02 www.criticaleye.net

3. a shorT course in
handling a crisis
The key to handling a crisis is to be
prepared, with trained staff that have
a robust crisis manual on hand (the
effectiveness of which has been tested
through simulation and role play). An
effective crisis play book equips you
to deal with almost anything that is
thrown at you, protect your company’s
reputation and, vitally, allows the
organisation to get on with business.
In the event of a crisis:
1. Take out your crisis manual and
follow the steps outlined
2. In the absence of a crisis manual,
make a note to engage a crisis
specialist to develop one for you and
then, crucially, makes sure the crisis is
yours before you get started
If it isn’t:
make sure the media and all
stakeholders understand that It is clear that events happened
If it is:
i. work with your management
to find out:
fast, and that Air France was
1. what the known facts are
2. what caused the crisis,
on the ball very quickly
3. if it was avoidable,
4. what actions you will take
to put it right
media about who was on the flight (details had, and pursued additional information
ii. set up a command centre: of nationalities but not names to start with). on their own to enhance each article
1. where one team takes calls, logs and update so as to continue to feed an
questions and monitors news channels It is important to note that the media will immediately curious and concerned public.
2. and another develops take the story where the public wants it
holding statements to go. In the absence of any information © Criticaleye 2009
3. that is led by a crisis coordinator about the plane in the first 48 hours, the
who takes responsibility for choosing media first went to experts in aviation and Betsy Garbacz Rawson
and briefing the spokesperson, weather hoping to extract information Campaign Manager
issuing statements and arranging Haggie Hepburn
that could help bring together pieces
press conferences if necessary
of the disjointed story, and then turned
its attention to the most important and Betsy manages international and national
3. After the crisis, lead a team to ensure
impactful information – the human aspect. strategic communications campaigns
that this particular crisis will never
and events in the UK and the Middle East
happen again and while you’re at it run
The media condensed and organised the at strategic communication firm Haggie
every crisis scenario you can think of
information from various sources into Hepburn. She has worked in Washington
for your organisation, and make sure and Westminster and has an MSc from
that systems are in place to avoid the something that began to tell an informed
the London School of Economics and
crisis ever happening in the first place. story to the public. Media are most
Political Science.
powerful at times of crisis, as they can
quickly form a story in peoples’ minds, and Ronald Hepburn
What did they do right? They didn’t comment they are able to do that with, or without, Managing Partner,
on things they could not know. Speculation information from involved parties. A Haggie Hepburn
was the preserve of the commentators. responsible media will check facts, but in
The company released limited information the absence of information from the key Ronald founded Haggie Hepburn, a strategic
in a timely manner and it was accurate, if players, they will make their own stories. communications business in 2004 and has
sparse. They didn’t prejudge the outcome since led strategic projects and campaigns for
of the crash investigation. When fingers In this case, the Brazilian and French the British Chambers of Commerce, Danone,
were pointed at particular issues such as authorities drove the hard news about the DOHALAND, the European Climate Exchange,
ExxonMobil, NHS Professionals, RasGas, and
the air-speed measuring devices, they search efforts and Air France offered frequent
Tesco Personal Finance.
confirmed what they knew about them - no statements regarding its deep sympathy for
more and no less. They were most proactive people affected by the crisis. In this case, Contact the authors through www.criticaleye.net
in assisting relatives and informing the the BBC built the story around what they
www.criticaleye.net 03