Air India has topped with the highest number of mentions on social media thanks to the privatisation of the airline late last year (Photo: India Outbound)
Business data aggregator and analysis firm GlobalData has released a report listing the top 10 Asian airlines with highest mentions on the social media. The airlines come in the list for a whole host of reasons, ranging from terrible tragedies like air crash to major sporting events and some make the cut for the quality of their customer service.
The surprising topper of the list is the Indian flag carrier Air India, which has topped with the highest number of mentions on social media thanks to the privatisation of the airline late last year, with ownership moving from the Indian government to its former owner, the Tata Group.
In a press statement, GlobalData says that the global airline industry’s path to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is being hampered by staff shortages and other macro factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and the looming global recession. ‘‘Against this backdrop, the social media analytics platform of GlobalData has tracked the top 10 Asian airlines based on the volume of social media conversations of Twitter influencers and Redditors,’’ says the press statement.
GlobalData’s latest report, Top 10 Most Mentioned Asian Airlines on Social Media says that a 38 pc surge was recorded in social media discussions in 2022, for the period January 1-October 31. Air India emerged as the most mentioned Asian airline with 22 pc share of voice, says the statement.
The remaining nine positions are occupied by Qantas Airways Ltd, Qatar Airways, IndiGo, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Akasa Air, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd, and Korean Air.
“The share of negative conversations on social media for the airlines industry has surged by 93 pc in the first 10 months in 2022, compared to the previous year during the same time. Rising flight ticket prices due to soaring fuel prices because of the Ukraine-Russia war, low air travel demand in the wake of spike in inflation, and increased rate of flight cancellations due to staff shortages emerged as key drivers behind low influencer sentiment in 2022,” says Smitarani Tripathy, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData.
The official ownership transfer of Air India to the Tata Group in January caused the biggest spike in conversations among the influencers about the company, says GlobalData.
China Eastern Airlines recorded the highest growth among the top-mentioned Asian airlines, with an 852 pc growth in social media discussion volume in the period, following the fatal accident of China Eastern Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 with more than 130 passengers on board. The accident marked as China’s biggest air mishap in over a decade.
