Emirates Airline Crisis Communication: A Case Study of Flight EK521

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Emirates Airline Advanced Business Communication

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Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURE...........................................................................................................................2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY.........................................................................................4
ANALYSIS AND ANY REASONS FOR FAILURE....................................................................5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

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LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 1: Incident description.........................................................................................................3
Figure 2: Logo of the company.......................................................................................................4
Figure 3: Original picture of crash-landing of EK215...................................................................5

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this report is to determine the different forms of communication in different
situation along with portraying the importance of communication in such situations. The report
portrays the case of Emirates which has faced crisis when the flight EK521 Crash landed and
exploded into flames at Dubai. The report discusses about the communication established after
the incident and communication process used by the company to communicate with the
stakeholders.
Figure 1: Incident description
[Source: Richter, 2016]

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BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY
Emirates is a Dubai (UAE) based airline, a subsidiary of Emirates Group which was
established in 1985. The Emirates Group is completely governed and owned by the “Government
of Dubai’s Investment Corporation of Dubai”. The organization is headquartered in Garhoud,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
“Official websites - emirates.com”
Figure 2: Logo of the company
[Source: Travel Classifieds, 2017]
[Source: https://www.thetravelmagazine.net/emirates-sales-executive-corporate-brussels.html]
The company is largest airline organization in the Middle East which is operating more
than 3600 flights in a week from the hub (Dubai) to more than 150 destinations across the globe.

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The company is providing services in eighty countries and six continents in the world with the
more than 65,000 employees.
ANALYSIS AND ANY REASONS FOR FAILURE
On 03rd August 2016, the flight EK521 which is scheduled global passenger flight from
India to Dubai was crash landed at 12:45 local time in Dubai. The flight was carrying 300
passengers but all the passengers were evacuated by the emergency rescue team at the airport but
unfortunately one fire fighter has been died and 24 people has got minor injuries. In addition to
this, 8 individuals were severally injured (AMEC, 2017). Emirates is a globally inspiring brand
and also world’s largest global airline but due to this company has faced a crisis of global
proportions. This was one of the largest reputational threats for the Emirates in the history. Now
it was essential for the company to handle this situation and communicate the same to
stakeholders in an effective manner (AMEC, 2017).

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Figure 3: Original picture of crash-landing of EK215
[Source: Langton, 2017]
Further, to communicate to the stakeholder or handle the situation Emirates
commissioned CARMA which has provided an immense support for disaster management
communication. Basically, Emirates involved third party to manage their communication with
the stakeholders (AMEC, 2017). CARMA was involved in real time monitoring across
traditional and social channel in which CARMA was getting responses from different countries,
analyzing international reaction, mapping official statements of the Emirates, identifying
reputational impact report and recognizing fake news or misinformation. The online
communication gap was the unavailability of Indian Hiplines. The organization uses both
traditional as well as digital media to reach to consumers and to communicate the information to

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the stakeholders such as TV, Radio, online and Print (Men, 2014). This analysis by the CARMA
has helped the company in adverting potential reputational disaster.
Focusing on the receivers, with whom Emirates was attempting to communicate include
family members of the passengers traveling in the flight, family members of the crew working in
the flight, existing consumers of the company (frequent flyer), consumers in the world
(consumers from different parts of the world) and government officials. It was essential for the
company to communicate with these stakeholders in which internal reaction analysis and other
analysis reports helped the company a lot (Danaher and Rossiter, 2011). Furthermore, talking
about the most appropriate channel for communication than company could have used personal
communication with the family members of the passengers and employees to assure them about
the health of their loved ones. In addition to this, formal communication channel could have been
used by the company to communicate the government officials (Danaher and Rossiter, 2011).
CARMA has provided immerse support during and after the incident to the management
of Emirates by delivering integrated analysis and monitoring. This agency has used every single
asset to convert it well for the Emirates and also the analysis helped company to communicate to
the stakeholders effectively
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
From the above report, it could be concluded that communication plays an important role
in every situation. In this report, a case of Emirates’s flight which was carrying 300 passengers
has been crash landed in Dubai and exploded in fire. In order to handle the situation across the
globe Emirates commissioned CARMA which has performed real time monitoring and analysis
if the international reaction. Selection of the agency turned to be the best option for the company

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as organization has managed its communication in an effective way during and after this disaster
(Miller, 2013).. Thus it is recommended to the all the origination to analyze the situation and
accordingly adopt communication modes to communicate with the stakeholders and other
receivers. In addition to this, it is recommended to all the organization to develop an effective
communication process within the organization so this kind of failure won’t ruin their reputation
and image in the market (Miller, 2013).

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REFERENCES
AMEC, 2017. Flight EK521 crisis report – Emirates Airline [ Retrieved from
https://amecorg.com/case-study/flight-ek521-crisis-report-emirates-airline-2/ on 13th March
2019]
Danaher, P.J. and Rossiter, J.R., 2011. Comparing perceptions of marketing communication
channels. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), pp.6-42.
Langton, J. 2017. Passengers to sue Boeing over Emirates crash at Dubai airport [Retrieved
from https://www.thenational.ae/uae/transport/passengers-to-sue-boeing-over-emirates-crash-at-
dubai-airport-1.622026 on 09th March 2019]
Men, L.R., 2014. Strategic internal communication: Transformational leadership, communication
channels, and employee satisfaction. Management Communication Quarterly, 28(2), pp.264-284.
Miller, D.A., 2013. Establishing optimal wave communication channels automatically. Journal of
Lightwave Technology, 31(24), pp.3987-3994.
Travel Classifieds, 2017. [EXPIRED] Emirates: Sales Executive (Corporate), Brussels
[Retrieved from https://www.thetravelmagazine.net/emirates-sales-executive-corporate-
brussels.html on 14th March 2019]