A Case study in the framework of crisis communication: Turkish Airlines Crisis in 2012

Crisis is an event that any kind of organization may experience any time. So crisis is an important concept for the field of public relations. While surviving any kind of crisis two key concepts grab attention, which are crisis management and crisis communication. In this case study, Turkish Airlines crisis in 2012 was examined in the framework of crisis communication. To explain the background of the crisis, after the proposal of the bill of law, which prohibits strike on aviation sector in Turkey to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Turkish airlines staff who are the members of The Voice of Aviation Workers in Turkey (Hava-iş) started a slowdown strike which caused the cancelation of 223 flight, damnification of more than 100 thousand passengers and dismissal of 305 workers. The strike which caused aforementioned crisis was carried out by Turkish airlines staff who are the members of The Voice of Aviation Workers in Turkey in Atatürk Airport in May 29, 2012 between 3.00 am and 11.30 pm. In the first part of the study, crisis, crisis management, concepts of crisis communication and crisis response strategies were defined. The second part of the study includes the methodology of the study, general information about Turkish Airlines, early warning signals, the crisis, the reactions of Turkish Airlines towards the crisis and lessons learnt from the crisis. The methodology of the study is determined as descriptive analysis. The reactions of Turkish Airlines towards the crisis were discussed through the perspective of Public Relations Response Typology. The remarkable points of the results of analysis are that the institution pursued monologism and used so-called “dark web site”, which is used only in crisis period. The study ends with the discussion of all findings and implications for executives and researchers.