Surviving and thriving through a crisis: a resiliency branding approach to transform airline industry

PurposeThere has been substantial research on branding globally. However, there is a dearth of studies empirically investigating branding strategies during the pandemic to mitigate COVID-19 effects on the airline industry. The paper considers three factors which are brand familiarity, brand communication and brand reputation to develop the brand trust of customers and that ultimately influence their brand preferences.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on self-administrative surveys as 450 questionnaires were spread, received 339 responses and a total of 301 questionnaires were selected for data analysis by structural-based modeling after the deletion of outliers and partially filled questionnaires. The data was collected through purposive sampling from Malaysian airports.FindingsThe findings confirm the relationship of brand communication, brand familiarity and brand reputation to brand trust and brand preference through mediation and directly except direct relationship of brand familiarity to brand preference. The study is limited to the provided dataset of surveys. The present study couldn't interview respondents which can be done by future studies and also effects of COVID-19 can be examined on related industries or through comparative studies among countries.Originality/valueThe present study is the first to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on airline brands and explored the strategies to respond to crises. The study is one of the rare studies that consider branding strategies to the uplift airline industry and mitigate post-pandemic effects from the airline sector.

Automated summary

This study is the first to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on airline brands and explores strategies to respond to crises. The findings confirm the positive impact of brand familiarity, brand communication, and brand reputation on brand trust and brand preference. This study is valuable for guiding branding strategies in the airline industry and mitigating the post-pandemic effects.