It was a crisis communicator's worst nightmare: As Ken Capps began his first day on the job as the vice president, public affairs, of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the country was in the early moments of the worst act of terror it had ever experienced. It was September 11, 2001, and Capps' initiation into airport crisis communications was quite literally trial by fire.
The crowded skies were being emptied amidst the panic, travelers were stranded, and the general public had little information to go by, save for the images of the World Trade Center towers falling to the ground on television. Thus, the communications executive had no more than walked through the door, and crisis management was the first priority. It was just a matter of setting a plan into action.
"When I walked into this job, we were holding a press conference within an hour. I said, 'There's a lot out there that we don't know and can't say, so let's figure out what we do know and can say,'" Capps says. "The longer we took to say something, the more the media would speculate, and the more fear would grow."
Fast-forward five years. One month and one day short of the fifth year anniversary of September 11th, Capps got a call at 2 o'clock in the morning, notifying him that a number of suspected terrorists were apprehended in London just hours before kick-starting a mission to bomb ten planes bound for the United States. His first response: contacting area media outlets to start spreading the news that security procedures would change drastically in reaction to the threat.
While both cases are extreme examples of crisis communications in action, the lesson is the same: Communicate early and often. It especially holds true for the travel industry, which hasn't been far removed from any domestic crisis - security or otherwise - in the last five years: September 11th grounded planes and crippled air travel; the subsequent economic downtown sent many airlines into financial tailspins; and, just as traffic was seeing its strongest rebound since 9/11, another terrorist plot reinstated fear and doubt in the minds of travelers.
Despite these challenges, DFW airport remained a go-to source for news media and a beacon of trust and credibility during the days after 9/11, and continuing today. Capps cites his template for maintaining this status:
* Communicate as soon as possible, as frequently as possible
* Get top level executives in front of the public
* Always communicate the organization's responsibility to its public
* Use the Web site as an up-to-date source for information and continuously direct people there
* In the absence of information, dispel misinformation
Still, it is difficult to overlook the fact that airport and travel PR executives are in the throes of the most turbulent business environ to date. Finances are still rocky, gas prices are at an all-time high and security is still unstable at best. What's more, increased use of security technology has been a double-edged sword, both allowing for quicker reaction times in crises and, at times, abetting criminals. That said, Richard Levick, president and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications, doesn't place blame on communicators for the airline industry's current woes, though he does see them as integral to the process of recovery.
"The [current state of the industry] is not a PR problem; it's a business problem," he says. "Communications must be integrated into the solution."
Following Capps' crisis communications outline is one step towards integration, but Levick suggests that there are bigger problems at the underbelly of the airline industry that must be addressed by PR executives before sweeping overtures can be implemented:
*Frequent flier miles have become a "black market of alternative funds:" With the growth of credit cards that tie into frequent flier accounts, many airlines are losing profits and thus making it more difficult to cash in on the benefits of "free" air travel (Levick personally holds over a million such miles, though he often can't use them on flights because of the various stipulations that live in the fine print.) This impairs trust among customers.
*Airlines are dependent on the fact that they are an oligopoly: At one time or another, most travelers will have a negative experience on one airline; the trouble, though, is that it is often difficult to "boycott" a carrier given their dominance in certain marketplaces. For example, if you refuse to fly United Airlines, you are often depriving yourself of convenient connections to and from Chicago; in American Airlines' case, it's New York or Boston. This lack of competition allows airline management to become lazy and stagnant because they are relatively competition-free.
*Many airlines are brandless, trying to be too many things to too many people: Levick cites United's creation of Ted and Delta's Song upstart to compete with successful budget carriers like Southwest and Jet Blue; however, this plan backfired because airlines like United and Delta couldn't compete with those that focused all their energy solely on one consumer base. The lesson: Don't put all your eggs in one basket - just most of them.
Now, exactly five years after September 11, 2001, communications executives across all industries - still face challenges brought on by the tragedy. Beyond that, business practices have marred the airline industry's credibility; a lack of competition has bred complacency; and, in some cases, unoriginal branding has blurred focus, in turn creating additional crises that must be handled by communications executives on a daily basis. The cause, according to Levick, is clear, and the solution is largely dependent on the pillars of PR: branding, crisis communications and management, and messaging.
And the conclusion?
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