Public Relations in the Airline Industry: The Crisis Response to the September 11th Attacks

Abstract

The public relations efforts of the U.S. airlines to restore consumer confidence in the industry in the wake of the 9/11 crisis are examined in this manuscript. The data demonstrate that following the crisis, the airlines engaged in strategic communication to restore their image and that of the industry as a whole. Also, following the prescriptions of crisis communication theory, the airlines enacted crisis-response strategies such as suffering, mortification and ingratiation. Crisis-response strategy selection was influenced by the type of crisis experienced, as predicted. The implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed in this article.

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