Though the COVID-19 pandemic-induced travel demand is a positive for the global airline industry, certain factors such as rising airfares, staff shortages, and travel protocols in the wake of new disease variants pose new challenges to the airline companies.
In this context, American Airlines, Inc. (American Airlines) is ranked as the most mentioned airline company among the top 10 airline companies based on social media discussions of Twitter influencers and Redditors in H1 2022, according to the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Top 10 Most Mentioned Airlines: H1 2022’, which analyzes the social media conversations around the leading airlines, reveals that the remaining top nine positions are occupied by Delta Airlines, Inc (Delta), JetBlue Airways Corp (JetBlue), British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM S.A. (Air France KLM), Qantas Airways Limited (Qantas), United Airlines, Inc (United Airlines), Qatar Airways Group Q.C.S.C. (Qatar Airways), and Air India.
Smitarani Tripathy, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Social media discussions around the global airline companies have surged by 20% in H1 2022, over the previous six months. The net sentiment of social media contributors plunged by more than 30% in H1 2022, over H2 2021.
“The increasing rate of flight cancellations due to staff shortages was one of the key reasons that dragged down influencers’ sentiments. Meanwhile, the recessionary fears coupled with rising airfares due to disturbances in supply chain are expected to weigh further on the air travel demand.”
American Airlines retained its place as the most discussed airline on social media from the last report. However, the share of voice of the airline fell to 15% in H1 2022, from 20% in the previous six months. The highest spike in social media conversations on the airline was observed during mid-January, led by a passenger mask dispute. Twitter influencers also appreciated the step taken by the airlines company to comply with the federal mask regulations of COVID-19.
JetBlue recorded a 48% growth in social media discussion volume in H1 2022, the highest growth rate among the top mentioned airlines. The growth led the airline to occupy the third position with a 14% share of voice, replacing Southwest Airlines, which was at the third position in our H2 2021 report. A dramatic spike among the social media contributors around JetBlue was noticed when the company made a $3.6 billion all-cash offer to acquire Spirit Airlines in April.
