Qatar Airways - Boeing 787 Dreamliner 1 Qatar Airways Defending ...

Qatar Airways - Boeing 787 Dreamliner 1
Qatar Airways
Defending Reliability Of Qatar Airways’ New Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Mikuláš Čurik
4@mikicurik.com
MK 403 Public Relations
Ivan Žáry
Organization Defense Project
January 22, 2012

Qatar Airways - Boeing 787 Dreamliner 2
Defining the Problem
Qatar Airways Company is state-owned airline headquartered in Doha, Qatar
operating in over 120 destinations worldwide. Number one priority of Qatar Airways is to
offer unmatchable level of service excellence, which has resulted in receiving award the best
2011 carrier in the world (Qatar Airways, 2012). In todays very competitive environment
they are able to keep 30% year-to-year growth. Qatar Airways is flying one of the most
modern fleet of almost 120 aircrafts in the sky, which includes the most modern Boeing 787
Dreamliner. They have ordered 60 aircrafts of this type and the first was delivered in the
summer 2012. Qatar Airways believe that new state of the art aircrafts will represent
innovation, drive and reliability of this Middle East global airline company. The main
objective of this paper is to defend the reliability of new Qatar Airways’ aircraft Boeing 787
Dreamliner even though competitors experience various technical problems.
In resent time, various competitors of Qatar Airways reported technical problems with
their brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Media has started to share news about low quality
and unreliability of these aircrafts, which causes panic and fear among the whole flying
public. Right now Qatar Airways is using five aircrafts Boeing 787 Dreamliner, however
there haven't been any sign of technical problems so far. Although these aircrafts are
technically perfect customers are canceling their bookings and demanding different aircrafts.
It is becoming a significant problem because Qatar Airways is suffering massive financial
losses as well as degradation of reputation. Even though they operate with these new aircrafts
without any technical problems for almost a year, increasing amount of negative news is
significantly harming Qatar Airways. It is in Qatar Airways’ interest to start ongoing
planning and communication with their potential as well as current customers to prevent from
growing losses.

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Planning & Programming
Qatar Airways is in unpleasant situation, which is not caused by their mistake or
wrong strategy but by the market and competitors. Technical problems, which are harming
competitors are spreading through the whole market and significantly affecting every airline
company that is flying with new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. To stabilize this situation and
prevent from further financial as well as reputation losses, Qatar Airways needs to effectively
plan, communicate and act. The objective of this process is to give certainty and reliable
information to their customers and maintain reputation of excellent services. To do so there
are several steps which need to be taken;
✓ explain that Qatar Airways’ Boeings 787 are in perfect condition and have no problem
✓ clarify that all Qatar Airways’ planes are under persistent control done by
professionals from Boeing
✓ demonstrate that on each flight of Boeing 787 will be executive manager from Qatar
Airways travailing with passengers
✓ explain that if there are any minor problems identified, customers will be immediately
informed so they prevent any undesirable complications
The most important objective is to clearly communicate that Qatar Airways fleet has no
technical problems and customers should not have any reason to be afraid about their safety
when flying with this airline.
As a first step in the process Qatar Airways should explain that their Boeings 787 are
in perfect condition and have no technical problem. Qatar Airways received its first Boeing in
June 2012. Since that time they have received five Derailments out of total sixty ordered.
According to the CEO of Qatar Airways Al Baker, new Boeing aircraft is full of innovation

Qatar Airways - Boeing 787 Dreamliner 4
behind which is more than 10 years of research & development and thorough testing
(Lundgren, 2012). During last seven months flying with Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Qatar
Airways identified several minor complications however none of them could endanger
passengers or employees safety. These problems were absolutely normal and expectable
because every single plain is unique and has its own characteristic details, which need to be
set individually. Despite of these minor complications Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787 are in
100% perfect condition. To be so sure about the technical conditions, Qatar Airways agreed
with Boeing company to have persistent participation of their engineers and safety analyst in
Doha hub.
Qatar Airways is the only airline company, which on its own costs has invited special
group of Boeing experts who control and check every Boeing 787 flying from Doha. These
experts play just a control role, so Qatar Airways is able to prevent and quickly react to any
sign of technical difficulty. Before each flight of Boeing 787 Dreamliner, this expert team
goes through long control process and checks every possible place of complication. Since
there were several cases of problematic batteries, they keep very close eye on them. This
unique cooperation between Boeing company and Qatar Airways keeps persistent control
over each plane and gives very useful results to both companies.
Qatar Airways’ new Boeings 787 flies to five destinations - New York City, London,
Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney. Board of directors have made a decision that during the next
month on each Boeing 787 flight will be one executive manager flying with passengers. This
gesture shows how confident Qatar Airways is about the quality and reliability of their
planes. If there would be any doubts about the plane conditions they would never send
executive manager flying with such a plane. This is also possibility for each manager
individually to take advantage and directly face-to-face listen to customers’ opinions. It will
bring benefits for the company as well as for the customers who would feel appreciated.

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However if there would be identified any technical problem, customers as well as
crew will be immediately informed and another planes would replace the problematic flights.
Qatar Airways is doing everything possible to prevent their customers and employees from
any inconvenient complications. Having this as a commitment, customers of Qatar Airways
can be in absolute safety.
Taking Action & Communicating
To implement strategies described in planning & programming section and stabilize
the situation Qatar Airways has deiced for two tactics;
1. Communicate with media
2. Communicate directly with customer
WHAT WHO WHEN HOW
1. Communicate with
MEDIA
PR team +
marketing director
As soon as possible
Press release, invite
journalists to Qatar
Airways briefing
2. Communicate directly
with CUSTOMERS
PR manager +
CEO
As soon as possible
Official letter to all
customers and people
who flew with Qatar
Airways company
After a meeting between PR manager and CEO the result is to take action as soon as
possible due to increasing costs and degradation of reputation. There is not time for waiting
and the PR action should start immediately. Throughout the whole process there is a close
cooperation between PR department (division of Qatar Airways marketing department) and
executives, especially CEO Al Baker, who has very good relations with media.
1. To effectively communicate four main points presented in the planning section,
Qatar Airways has to send clear message through mass media. Identifying the most important

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publics, which are business travelers, multinational company employees as well as holiday
travelers it is inevitable to use main business periodic, business and news related TV channels
and business and news related websites. Using these media Qatar Airways should clearly
explain all four points so their publics won’t be questioning reliability of Qatar’s Boeings.
Information will be in two forms, firstly in press release which would be published on Qatar
Airways’ official website and also send to several other news websites. Secondly, Qatar
Airways will hold press briefing, where will be invited journalists from the most important
business and news TVs. CEO of Qatar Airways Al Baker will let the briefing. As was
mentioned earlier, he has very good relations with CNN and BBC. To those he will give
exclusive interview about the situation of Qatar Airways and Boeing 787 Dreamliner issue.
However all of this will be possible to organize in approximately one-week time. To respond
more quickly executives in cooperation with PR manager have decided to send official letter
from CEO to every customer of Qatar Airways.
2. In order to react more effectively Qatar Airways has decided to do something
unique, which does not happen very often. Every current customer and also everyone who
have ever flown with Qatar Airways will receive short email letter defending the situation
and reliability of Qatar Airways’ services signed by CEO Al Baker. Every single letter will
be addressed directly to the person. This will be something more personal, something just
between Qatar Airways and their respected customers. Letter will include four points
described in planning section and also give a reasons why to continue flying with Qatar
Airways. PR departments as well as executives have agreed that it will be very powerful tool
how to show appreciation of every single customer and their loyalty.

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Evaluating Program
Qatar Airways believes that combination of deep and thorough planning with creative
and effective communication will have satisfying result. Customers of Qatar Airways will
rebuild their trust and continue flying with the leading Middle-East airline company. An
effective measurement of this defending process will be easily tracked on number of
cancelations. When the number of cancelation will drop to the regular 10% from todays 25%
it will be direct information that it was effective. It will be also important to track number of
requests to change aircraft from Boeing 787 Dreamliner to any other. Another way of
evaluation will be possible through the executive managers who will be in close contact with
Qatar Airways’ customers. During their time on board they can collect very valuable
feedback on the airline as well as on the Boeing 787 issue and Qatar’s PR reaction.

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Reference list
Lundgren K., Ray S. (2012, December 14). Qatar Dreamliner Grounded on Fault Echoing
United Jet’s. Retrieved on January 18 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-
13/qatar-airways-boeing-787-grounded-with-same-fault-as-united-jet.html
Qatar Airways. (2012). CEO’s Message. Retrieved on January 18 from
http://www.qatarairways.com/qa/en/ceo-message.page