Royal Brunei Airlines emergency landing of flight BI098 – SimpliBrilliant Crises Management in the digital age

While air travel is one of the safest mode of transportation, emergencies do occur sometimes and on April 15, 2012, a Royal Brunei Airlines flight had a hiccup. Here’s what was posted on the airline’s blog about the incident:

Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 777-200 flight number BI098, from Dubai to Bandar Seri Begawan, on 15 April 2012, made a precautionary landing in Mumbai, India following an aircraft system alert ‘AFT Cargo Fire’ that necessitated the flight to be diverted to the nearest airport at that time.  BI098 landed safely at Mumbai at 19:24 (GMT +5:30). Royal Brunei Airlines can confirm that no passengers were injured.

Flawless crises management, supported by social media

While such a statement and a press release is only to be expected after any incident, their blog, Facebook page and Twitter account was not just abuzz with regular updates, there was ample two-way interaction too.

First, generic updates were put out, then messages directed toward the stranded passengers were posted and then once relatives of passengers learnt that’s where they could get the latest information, the airline staff actively engaged with them too. Very soon, some of the stranded passengers themselves started asking questions and getting personalised answers themselves. And all this on a Sunday!

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/royalbruneiair/status/191459685981884416″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/activrightbrain/status/191492257227079681″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/jpangable/status/191523170304540672″]

Not only did this active engagement right after the crisis go a long way in calming nerves of the passengers and the relatives, anyone watching the conversation as an observer would be impressed by how well the airline has been taking care of the passengers (free wifi, laundry, international calls, meals etc) and also communicating so actively. It shows flawless execution on the part of the Corporate Communications team and we can clearly see that social-media activation was part of the standard operating procedure during a crisis.

Even if someone has not flown Royal Brunei Airlines, such incidences help establish trust for the future, more than any advertising campaign ever can. After all, isn’t it a rule of PR, that you should put your best foot forward when the world is watching you? Like in times of a crises?

Our recent Top 10 Case Studies on Airline Crises Management covered the best airlines in the trade. Royal Brunei certainly would make the cut the next time we put this deck together.

Meanwhile, be impressed by some of the screenshots of the interactions led by the Royal Brunei Airlines team.

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