Singapore – Travelling with Singapore Airlines (SIA) has seen a slump a week following a turbulence incident from one of its flights that resulted in the death of one passenger and seven critically injured. However, despite this, the airline remains on top of most considered airlines as of the end of May–according to the latest survey from YouGov.
The data from YouGov BrandIndex indicates that news of the recent accident has spread widely in Singapore. The carrier’s Buzz score (which measures whether consumers have heard more positive or negative things about a brand in the past two weeks) plunged over 35 points from 54.7 on May 21 to 19.2 by May 31 – finishing 18 points lower than at the start of the month.
Meanwhile, its WOM Exposure score (which measures whether consumers have recently talked about the brand with their family and friends) spiked almost 14 points since the accident – from 42.7 on May 21 to 56.5 by May 31 – suggesting consumers are not just noticing the news but also discussing it.
Moreover, SIA’s service quality and corporate reputation, however, saw only slight dips in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Consumer perceptions of the airline’s Quality dropped about four points one week on – from 69.3 on May 21 to 65.4 by May 31 – and remains almost three points higher than on May 1 (62.5). Likewise, the airline’s Reputation score (which measures whether residents would be proud or embarrassed to work for the brand) shaved 2.3 points over the same period – from 66.9 on May 21 to 64.6 by May 31 – to finish close to six points higher than on May 1 (58.9).
In contrast, consideration of SIA as a potential travel provider has taken a noticeable hit. Its Consideration score (which measures the percentage of consumers who would consider flying with the airline on their next trip) lost almost 15 points following SQ321’s mishap – falling from 68.0 on May 21 to 53.3 by May 29 – but appears to have started to on an upward trend thereafter to reach 55.9 by the end of May.
Nonetheless, despite the significant fall in consumer who would consider booking their next flight with SIA, the flag carrier remains by far the most considered airline among consumers in Singapore.
The incident involved the Singapore Airlines Flight 321 flying from London to Singapore on May 20 and experienced turbulence, forcing the airplane–a Boeing 777-300ER–to divert to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
Following the incident, Singapore Airlines chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong has apologised for the incident, adding, “We are very sorry for the traumatic experience that everyone on board SQ321 went through.”
Moreover, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has promised a “thorough investigation” into the incident that left one person dead and dozens others hurt, with Singapore’s transport ministry having deployed investigators to Bangkok, where the Singapore-bound flight from London made an emergency landing.
