On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 227 passengers and crew onboard. Contact was lost with air traffic control around 1:19 am and the plane has not been found despite an extensive underwater search of the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have crashed. Various conspiracy theories have emerged in the year since the plane disappeared while Malaysia has officially declared MH370 an accident and presumed its passengers and crew dead.

2. On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur for
Beijing
The flight carried 227 passengers from 13 countries including 2 infants and 12 crew
members
MH370 was due to arrive in Beijing at 18.30 am
 Flight lost contact with Air Traffic Control at 1.19 am
Underwater search still underway at the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft is
believed to have crashed

3. Search Operations
 Twenty eight nations have taken part in the search, either physically or using technical
know-how
 Over 22,000 square kilometers of the seafloor has been searched.
 Inevitable speculations
 327 days after the plane vanished Malaysia officially declared the disappearance of MH370
an accident and its passengers and crew presumed dead

4. Conspiracy Theories
 Various conspiracy theories surfaced in media in this last one year since MH370 went
missing
 Speculations around God’s Act, Beings from another dimension, time travelers, or aliens
 21 per cent people believed plane could have landed rather than crashed
 Plane may have been hijacked and flown to a remote location
 False flag" operation to discredit Russia

5. Family of passengers and crew
Airlines Worldwide
Government of Malaysia
 Malaysia Airlines Staff
Countries representing passengers
Countries engaged in Search & Rescue Mission
Media
Anyone travelling by air
Anyone reading news

6.  Searching, searching and more searching
 While the rescue and investigative teams from across twenty six countries swung into
action, social media was abuzz with the updates on the missing plane

7. Control &
Amplify
Sincerity &
Compassion
Transparency
&
Information
Trust

8. Control & Amplify
 Immediate response was a statement at 7,24 am-- five hours after the loss of contact with
the plane
 Amplified Updates on Facebook & Twitter

9. Sincerity & Compassion
 Utilized the hashtag #MASalert & #MH370
 Created a “dark site” for communication
 Removed promotional material from social media pages
 Focus only on flight updates
 Flight codes MH370 and MH371 were retired

10. Information & Transparency
 All updates were published in English & Chinese
 Common queries from the media were addressed
 Airlines CEO did press conference next day expressing solidarity with families of victims

11. Trust
 Common queries from the media were addressed
 Clarified that personal data of passengers & crew cannot be shared
 Gave closure to families and public on March 25 by officially assuming that MH370 must
have crashed in Southern Indian Ocean

12.  Biggest challenge was absence of any substantive information about what happened
to MH370
 Information vacuum bred frenzied speculation
 Outlandish theories around aliens and sabotage started doing rounds
 MA debunked all these theories without offering any definitive alternative theory
 MA established daily media briefings and published daily statements

13.  The airlines did not take any external agency to help with its handling of the crisis
 The company was slammed for sending a text message to some of MH370
passengers’ grieving families, notifying them that it was “beyond any reasonable
doubt” that their relatives were killed
 Pictures published and footage of relatives being forcibly removed from press
conferences by the police and scenes of protests outside the Malaysian embassy in
Beijing broadcasted
 MA apologized for insensitive tweets promoting year end sales on beleaguered
routes on social media

14. So what should MA do now?
 Communicate with stakeholders with proper tools.
 Bring in an outside communications agency to work on the airline’s short-term and
long-term branding and crisis response

15. So what should MA do now?
 The airlines needs to take out full-page ads in the newspapers in their top markets
addressing the latest tragedy, expressing sympathy, and outlining where the airline
will go from here
 Having former passengers interviewed and used in promotions expressing their
confidence in Malaysia Airlines
 Having a social media strategy that reinforces the message that is being given in the
traditional media.