Not If, But When a Crisis Happens
In aviation, it’s not if a crisis will occur, but when. Be sure your team knows how to react during an emergency with a detailed crisis communications plan from Aviatrix Communications.
A comprehensive crisis communication plan is vital for the smooth operation of airports. By preparing in advance, training personnel, and maintaining clear, empathetic, and accurate communication, airports can manage crises more confidently and earn the trust of passengers and stakeholders.
Crisis Communications Plans
Effective crisis communication is essential for the aviation industry, where safety, security, and public perception are paramount. Airport communicators, both for general aviation and commercial airports, must be prepared to handle emergencies that can range from minor incidents to significant disruptions. The best way to prepare for a future emergency is to develop an airport crisis communications plan.
Crisis communications involve the timely and effective dissemination of information during an emergency to manage public perception and ensure safety. In our crisis communications plans, Aviatrix Communications creates detailed scenarios for each identified risk to guide response strategies and clearly define each team member’s roles and responsibilities. Our crisis communications plans provide templates, checklists, and step-by-step instructions to streamline the public-information process during a complex event.
Our plan writers are trained public information officers, who have taken National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) classes to ensure that our crisis communications plans are appropriate for airports. Our staff has also put crisis communications plans into action, both as airport employees and as consultants assisting clients through emergency situations. We know our plans work during an airport incident, because they have been tested in the field.
Crisis Communications and Media Relations
Our crisis communications plans include how to utilize social media, press releases, airport websites, and media partnerships to communicate with the public and stakeholders.
Aviatrix Communication can also prepare you for media briefings, press interviews, and a draft schedule of regular updates to provide accurate information to maintain trust and transparency. See more information in our media training for specific spokesperson training to ensure your team is prepared to manage media relations during an emergency.
Clear and Concise Communications
Aviatrix Communications’ plans and procedures, key messages, and resources will prepare airport PIOs to proactively collaborate with partner-agency PIOs, and communicate timely, accurate, and approved messaging to the media and public. Contact us today at solutions@aviatrixcommunications.com to learn more on how we can prepare your team for an emergency.
Client Testimonial
Airport Crisis Communications: Common Questions
Why do airports need a crisis communications plan?
In aviation, a crisis is a matter of when rather than if. A plan keeps your team from improvising at two in the morning, because it decides in advance who speaks, what gets said first, and which channels carry it. Preparing ahead, training your people, and communicating clearly and accurately is how an airport holds public trust while an incident is still unfolding.
What makes Aviatrix Communications qualified to develop airport crisis plans?
Our plan writers are trained public information officers who have taken NTSB and TSA classes, so the plans fit how airports actually operate. Our staff has also put crisis communications plans into action — as airport employees and as consultants working alongside clients through emergencies. We know the plans hold up during an incident because they have been tested in the field, not just in a binder.
What does an airport crisis communications plan include?
Every plan starts with a detailed scenario for each identified risk, and inside each one we name who does what before anything happens. From there you get templates, checklists, and step-by-step instructions for running the public-information process during a complex event. The plan also covers how to use social media, press releases, your airport website, and media partnerships while it plays out.
How can airports effectively manage media relations during a crisis?
Decide who speaks before the phone rings, then put that person on a schedule. We prepare you for media briefings and press interviews and build a draft schedule of regular updates, so reporters know when the next one lands instead of chasing your staff between them. Spokesperson training is separate — see our media training — so the person at the podium has practiced before the day it counts.
How does crisis communications planning integrate with an airport's emergency response plan?
It handles the public-information side. Our plans, procedures, key messages, and resources prepare your PIOs to work proactively with partner-agency PIOs and get timely, accurate, approved messaging to the media and the public. It is a communications document, not an operations one — it says who releases what, through which channel, and when, while the rest of your emergency response runs on its own track.