AN IMAGE-enhancement campaign has been adopted by the Regional Airline Association (RAA) in an effort to counter public uncertainties about the safety of commuter airlines.
Called Plane Sense, the programme focuses on three main groups - passengers, travel agents and professionals, and the employees of regional airlines. Packages of promotional material are being sent to these groups as well as to airframe manufacturers and RAA members.
Washington DC-based public relations firm Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, which has developed the campaign for the RAA, has also briefed major US newspapers and television networks on the operations of regional airlines and their safety and training records.
The RAA, which has also hired its own public-relations person for the first time - Benet Wilson - says that it will provide details of Plane Sense to the European Regional Airlines Association.
Richard Mintz, senior vice-president at Ogilvy, says that his company's research discovered that people's opinions of commuter aircraft and airlines rose markedly once they were informed of facts and reliable data. Plane Sense will reach out to those people, especially regular travellers, says Mintz.
The RAA says that it does not intend the campaign to replace airlines' existing information and press-relations programmes - it is simply an additional aid to ensure a consistent message across the industry. It has found that many employees of commuter airlines - especially gate agents and cabin crew - are uncomfortable about responding to passengers' concerns about safety, and Plane Sense offers them some answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Source: Flight International
