Summertime! What a great period for holidays, tanning by the pool with a cocktail or discovering new cultures on the other side of the world. For many, vacations start with a flight booked months in advance to avoid any last minute hassle. That includes a meticulous choice of airline, may it be to find the cheapest fare possible or to minimize the risk of a delayed flight. Thanks to the development of tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, Asian airlines have become increasingly popular. Customers don’t hesitate to share their flight experiences on social media, whether it’s to complain about poor customer service or to compliment a pleasant journey. With our social listening platform, we built a dashboard gathering online conversations about the 11 best Asian airlines in the region. This competitive benchmarking dashboard aims at comparing these carriers to uncover what people think of them, and which ones are preferred. Here are some key social media insights about the best Asian airlines:
Singapore Airlines and China Southern Airlines: The Most and Least Talked About
The share of voice widget within the platform tells you how many of the mentions in your industry are referring to your company and to your competitors respectively. By comparing the share of voice of different brands, you can see which one is discussed most often online.
Social Media Insights: Highest Share of Voice
During the first six months of 2018, Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways were the most talked about online, totaling more than 175,000 mentions combined. A high number of mentions could be linked to a high number of customers — and they have a strong impact on people who then share their experience online. However, a large share of voice doesn’t necessarily signify that they are liked; a high number of mentions can also be linked to a crisis (high volumes of complaints and criticisms). Companies need to take this into account when measuring their brand intelligence.
Social Media Insights: Lowest Share of Voice
In comparison, the least talked about the company, China Southern Airlines, only represented 3.12% of all conversations. This corresponds to only 12,871 mentions of the brand over 6 months. The Taiwanese airline EVA Air is just above, with 13,476 mentions. Besides, attracting new customers goes hand-in-hand with increasing your brand awareness. China Southern Airline and EVA Air should thus take steps to build a bigger presence online. This could be done, for example, by posting more often on their owned media channels, engaging with customers and encouraging interaction.
Qantas Airways understands this— they are very active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As we can see on their Instagram page, they share various information with the public, from showing the comfort of their seats to picturesque landscapes. With likes, sharing options and comment sections, the posts get a lot of attention and appear in more and more people’s feeds. As a result, Qantas can gain awareness and have a higher share of voice.
All Nippon Airlines: The Highest Social Reputation Score
Social Reputation Score (SRS) is a measure of the overall sentiment around a brand, based on all comments made online about them. The score can range from 0 to 100. SRS analyses customer satisfaction, giving more weight to posts with a high influence (a lot of impressions). Our social media insights platform calculated this score for each of the airlines, and here is the ranking for best Asian airlines:
- All Nippon Airways
- Singapore Airlines
- EVA Air
- Thai Airways
- Air New Zealand
- Malaysia Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
- China Southern Airlines
- Asiana Airlines
- Qantas Airways
- Philippines Airlines
Top of the list, All Nippon Airways achieved a score of 65.53. They also got the highest scores for each of the topics that we studied; fares, comfort, bags and reliability. This indicates that their customers are happy with the airline’s services.
If you’re traveling to Southeast Asia also consider Singapore Airlines, which obtained a score of 55.5. The fare topic had the most positive sentiment for Singapore Airlines, while comfort had the least.
The Worst Airlines By Category
Here are the airlines which obtained the lowest scores — meaning a lot of negative comments — per topic:
Reliability
The least reliable airline of the region is Philippines Airlines, with a score of 48.71. The most complained about topic for this airline is frequent delays.
Fares
Qantas Airways obtained the lowest score for fares at 50.97. Indeed, the airline is considered too expensive by their social media critics.
Bags
Philippines Airlines once again obtained a low score. Customers complained about their bag facilities (checked baggage, options for extra baggage, maximum weight, etc.). Some people tweeted that the company lost their luggage, others commented that the baggage allowance was “the worst.”
Comfort
Finally, we found that Cathay Pacific was rated the least comfortable airline, with an SRS of 53.41. Customers often complain that the seats are small.
To conclude, the best Asian airlines depends on specific criteria. Each person has their own priorities when booking a flight. Our social media insights revealed the most talked about airlines and the airlines with the most positive sentiment overall, and within each topic.
Social listening can help all different types of business, from competitive benchmarking to brand intelligence tracking. Social media insights can help your business grow by taking into consideration what your customers are saying about you. Doing so will allow you to understand their pain points and needs, and empower you to improve your product, service or company.
Learn more about social listening within the travel and tourism industry.
