As the terrible tragedy of AirAsia flight QZ8501 continues to fill our screens it’s a reminder that any organisation, however well run and tightly regulated, can suffer a disaster.
When such events occur the leadership of the organisation is severely tested and corporate folklore is littered with examples of CEOs and Presidents who have failed (Tony Hayward of BP, for example) and those who have handled the situation well and have been praised for their efforts (think Sir Michael Bishop after the British Midland Kegworth crash in 1989).
As the full horror of the missing aircraft unfolds, much of the media attention has been on AirAsia’s boss, Tony Fernandes, the man who bought the then loss making airline when he was just 37 years old in 2001 and quickly turned it around to make it profitable and eventually the largest budget carrier in Asia.
It was almost exactly a year ago that Fernandes was named ‘Airline Industry Leader of the Year’ for pushing the boundaries of the aviation industry at the 4th annual Aviation 100 Awards.
So how good has his handling of this crisis been so far? When the lives of so many people are touched by such a crisis the pressure on those handling it is greater than ever.
Fernandes didn’t try and hide himself away as some leaders do when crises strike. With his financial interests in football – he’s chairman of English Premier League football club Queens Park Rangers – and motor racing, Fernandes is a high profile figure and so to disappear when things go wrong would look doubly bad. Turkey magnate Bernard Matthews, for instance, was criticised for happily fronting up his products in advertising campaigns but then going into hiding when bacteria was found at the company’s factories and staff were alleged to have treated birds badly.
Just as his friend Richard Branson did following the Cumbria train crash, Fernandes was quickly on the scene, flying immediately to Surabaya where the flight originated, to meet the families of passengers. He’d already used social media by Tweeting a simple, clear message: “my only thoughts are with the passengers and my crew... we must stay strong.”
Clearly aware that the media is thirstier than ever for constant updates in these situations, Fernandes has issued over 20 Tweets updating his followers on the progress of the investigation and emphasising that the family and friends of passengers are his principal focus. “My heart bleeds for the relatives of my crew and our passangers [sic],” he said at one point. Does the typo matter? Not at this point, it would seem. Indeed, the Washington Post, praising Fernandes, described it as being “credible and authentic.”
Apologies during a crisis are often where leaders go wrong. The classic politician’s “I’m so sorry…that I was caught” is now beyond parody but weasel words and niggardly qualifications are all too common in corporate apologies. This is not the case here.
“I apologize profusely for what they are going through," said Fernandes at a press conference. “I am the leader of this company. I take responsibility. That is why I am here. I am not running away from my obligations even though we don't know what's wrong. The passengers were on my aircraft, and I have to take responsibility for that.”
This isn’t the first time in recent months that Fernandes has had to take action. Few people realise it but the airline could have suffered a severe embarrassment when an article in its inflight magazine appeared to mock Malaysia Airlines less than a month after the airline, a rival of AirAsia, saw one of its planes disappear. Here Fernandes kept his cool. He apologised immediately and ordered the recall of the offending publication.
The story is fast moving and – insignificant though they might be in comparison to the appalling grief of those awaiting further news about their loved ones – Fernandes still faces serious challenges over the coming weeks and months.
However, so far, according to media as geographically varied as The Washington Post and The Straits Times, he’s doing well in these awful circumstances.
