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Emergency crews blackout airline’s logo in ‘crisis communication’ move after runway crash

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By Steven Raeburn | N/A

September 9, 2013 | 4 min read

Bangkok international airport 'officials' have swiftly moved to cover up the logo of a stricken Thai Airways jet which crashed on the airport’s runway, in a ‘crisis communication’ move reported to have been recommended by Star Alliance, the global airline network.“After the accident, workers on a crane blacked out the Thai Airways logo on the tail and body of the aircraft, as part of an effort to protect its image, an official said,” the Guardian reported.“Thai Airways official, Smud Poom-on said that blurring the logo after an accident was a recommendation from Star Alliance known as the "crisis communication rule", meant to protect the image of both the airline and other members of Star Alliance,” it added.Images of the aircraft before and after the logo blackout were swiftly shared across Twitter.Channel 9’s Ross Greenwood described the act as the “Most bizarre piece of corporate spin ever”.Markus Ruediger, the director of media relations at Star Alliance told The Drum that "the Star Alliance Policy does not require the covering of logos in such instances."He added that: "Our policy does not include any reference to covering up logos following accident or incident."He also said that Thai Airways official, Smud Poom-o "must be mis-informed." "Thai Airways International confirms that Star Alliance did not ask for any logo on the aircraft to be covered. This is a practice by Thai Airways. Star Alliance does not have a policy or procedure to cover the logo of an aircraft that has been in an incident or accident," Star Alliance said in a further statement.

A before/after image being widely shared via social media

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