Singapore Airlines apologises for Facebook post after it draws flak, sows confusion
[UPDATE on Saturday, 19 July at 7:33pm: Adding response from Singapore Airlines spokesperson]
Singapore Airlines has apologised for a post that it published on its Facebook page in the hours following the untimely crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight #MH17 plane in eastern Ukraine.
In response to Yahoo Singapore's queries, a spokesperson for the airline explained that the post was published in response to "many requests from our customers who had asked for information about our flight routes for their upcoming flights with us".
"We recognise that the information could have been better communicated and we sincerely apologise if it had offended our customers and anyone else in the online community," the spokesperson added, sharing that the airline was aware that their initial update came across as "insensitive" to some.
The single-sentence status, which said “Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace”, was posted at 3:13am on Friday, hours after news broke of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash as it was crossing Eastern Ukraine air space.
It had drawn a mix of confusion and flak on the social network, with several accusing it of “poor taste” and of “misleading” its customers.
While the world’s governments race to determine who was responsible for what they believe to be a ground-to-air missile that decimated the Boeing 777 jetliner carrying 298 passengers and crew, the first statement from Singapore Airlines ignited a flurry of comments and shares. By Saturday afternoon, the post received more than 9,000 likes, more than 700 comments and more than 1,100 shares.
“Please Singapore Airlines, have some class but most importantly heart,” wrote user Natasha Smith in response to its status. “A lot of people have sadly died today for no reason… this is in really poor taste.”
“SIA, please explain why SQ351 (was) 25km away from MH17? You said you are not using Ukraine airspace?!” wrote Irene Lim-Tan. “I think a lot of us want your explanations.” Her comment came after data from FlightRadar24.com revealed that the Singapore Airlines flight alongside an Air India plane was positioned nearby MH17 in a screen grab on Twitter on Thursday night.
A report by German magazine Spiegel Online on Saturday also said that Singapore Airlines jets flew over the same eastern Ukraine air space 75 times in the last week, as compared to MAS, which flew the path 48 times in the same period.
“Shame on a five-star airline to act selfish(ly) at a time of disaster,” added Salman Faris. “Do you still want to capitalise on a situation of this nature?”
Other users responded to people who protested their statement, however, voicing their opinion that it is fair, and that the carrier was merely acting to inform passengers who might have been about to board Singapore Airlines flights that could cross the area.
"I don't think their comment was to advertise or boast their flight routes as much as it was to ease the tension of the hundreds of passengers that are scheduled to fly out to other countries over the next few days,” said Karishma Sharma. “There is now a fear of the repercussions and SQ just used FB as a medium to spread a message to their passengers that they ought not to worry about flights in the next few hours or days.”
"People should remember that there are thousands of aircraft in the sky at any one time. There will be people that will be at boarding gates or about to leave shortly both in Singapore and from European destinations; those passengers quite rightly would be worried about where flight will be going given the news that the aircraft was shot down,” added user Matthew Bramhall.
The airline later posted a second status update just over an hour after, saying, “Our thoughts are with the passengers and crew of MH17, and their families.”
Local media quoted an SIA spokesperson as saying that the airline “is no longer using Ukrainian airspace”, even though it does have a number of pre-existing flight paths for its flights to and from the various destinations it operates to.
“At this point, we are no longer using the Ukrainian airspace and have re-routed all our flights to alternative flight paths that are away from the region,” the airline’s statement reportedly said. “In line with aviation safety and security protocols, we will however not provide specific information on the flight path of any particular flight prior to flight departure.”
