Airline marketing communications on corporate environmental responsibility : case study of CER-related social media marketing communications at Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group

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2019

Susanna Holma

AIRLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ON CORPORATE

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

– Case study of CER-related social media

marketing communications at Finnair, Lufthansa

Group and Air France-KLM Group

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International Business

2019 | 66 pages, 12 pages in appendix

Susanna Holma

AIRLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS ON CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL

RESPONSIBILITY

- Case study of CER-related social media marketing communications at Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group

With the increasing trend of passenger air travel comes an increasing concern for the environmental impact it is causing. While passenger numbers in aviation are rising, so is the pressure on airlines to report what they are doing to combat the negative effects their operations have on the planet. It is also a question of responsibility and company image to be up to date and communicate about issues related to environmental concerns.

A modern and effective method of spreading information and reaching the public is social media. The three aviation entities studied in this research; Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group, are all using the common social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach out to their clients and the general public. They are also using their sustainability reports to publish information on their corporate environmental responsibility (CER) targets and actions.

The purpose of this research is to find out how CER is conducted at Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group, and how these three aviation entities communicate about CER-related matters in their social media marketing. Differences between the three entities are observed and analyzed in addition.

The main findings of the research focus on the CER target areas and actions of the three aviation entities and how they communicate about CER-related matters in their social media marketing regarding the quantity, content and type of such communication. Field- related keywords, imagery and themes are used to enable reliable identification of such posts.

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secondary data from the exploratory study, are analyzed and concluded to complete the research.

KEYWORDS:

Corporate Environmental Responsibility, Marketing Communication, Social Media, Observation, Aviation Industry, Sustainability

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International Business 2019 | 66 sivua, 12 liitesivua

Susanna Holma

LENTOYHTIÖIDEN MARKKINOINTIVIESTINTÄ YMPÄRISTÖVASTUUSEEN LIITTYEN

Tapaustutkimus Finnairin, Lufthansa Groupin ja Air France-KLM Groupin ympäristövastuuseen liittyvästä sosiaalisen median markkinointiviestinnästä

Kasvavan lentomatkustustrendin mukana tulee syvenevä huoli sen ympäristövaikutuksista. Samalla kun matkustajamäärät kasvavat, lentoyhtiöille syntyy yhä enemmän paineita raportoida miten se sisällyttävät kestäviä toimintatapoja operaatioihinsa vähentääkseen lentämisen negatiivisia ympäristöseurauksia.

Oleellisista ympäristöasioista ajan tasalla pysymisellä ja niistä julkisesti viestimisellä on positiivinen vaikutus ympäristövastuulliseen yhtiökuvaan.

Sosiaalinen media on moderni ja tehokas tapa levittää tietoa ja tavoittaa kohdeyleisö.

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan kolmea lentoyhtiöentiteettiä: Finnairia, Lufthansa Groupia and Air France-KLM Groupia, jotka kaikki käyttävät Facebookia, Instagramia sekä Twitteriä asiakkaidensa ja julkisen yleisön kanssa viestimiseen. Lentoyhtiöentiteetit myös julkaisevat yhtiöympäristövastuuta koskevaa tietoa vastuullisuusraporteissaan.

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus on tarkastella, kuinka yhtiöympäristövastuu toteutuu edellä mainituilla entiteeteillä, ja miten ne viestivät ympäristövastuuseen liittyvistä asioista sosiaalisen median tileillään. Lisäksi eroavaisuuksia tutkittujen entiteettien välillä analysoidaan.

Tutkimuksen tärkeimmät tulokset keskittyvät kolmen tutkitun lentoyhtiöentiteetin ympäristövastuun tavoitteisiin ja toimintatapoihin sekä siihen, miten nämä entiteetit viestivät ympäristövastuuseen liittyvistä seikoista sosiaalisen median markkinoinnissaan. Tässä tutkimuksessa on observoitu erityisesti tällaisen viestinnän määrää, sisältöä ja tyyppilajeja. Tarkoituksenmukaisen viestinnän identifiointi pohjautuu toimialaan kuuluvien asiasanojen, kuvituksien ja teemojen sisältymiseen postauksissa.

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yhdessä vastuuraporteista kerätyn toissijaisen datan kanssa, analysoidaan ja päätellään tutkimuksen viimeistelemiseksi.

ASIASANAT:

Yhtiöympäristövastuu, markkinointiviestintä, sosiaalinen media, observointi, lentoala, kestävyys

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS I

1. BACKGROUND 1

1.1 Research Motivation 1

1.2 Objectives and Research Questions 2

1.3 Thesis Structure 3

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Environmental Issues in the European Airline Industry 4 2.2 Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) 5

2.3 Marketing Communications 8

2.4 Social Media: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook 9 2.5 Airline/Airline Groups: Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group

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3. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY 13

3.1 Methodology 13

3.2 Timeframe 15

3.3 Limitations 15

4. RESEARCH RESULTS 17

4.1 Sustainability Reports 17

4.1.1 Finnair 17

4.1.2 Lufthansa Group 18

4.1.3 Air France-KLM Group 21

4.2 Finnair 23

4.2.1 Finnair on Twitter 23

4.2.2 Finnair’s Facebook Page 27

4.2.3 Finnair’s Instagram Account 29

4.3Lufthansa Group 30

4.3.1 Lufthansa on Twitter 30

4.3.2 Lufthansa’s Facebook Page 31

4.3.3 Lufthansa’s Instagram Account 32

4.4 Air France-KLM 32

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4.4.3 Air France & KLM’s Instagram Accounts 40

5. ANALYSIS 46

5.1 CER Target Areas 46

5.2 CER Actions 47

5.3 Amount of CER-Related Social Media Posts; in Total and Per Platform 50

5.4 Contents and Themes of CER-Related Posts 54

5.5 Types of CER-Related Posts 59

6. CONCLUSION 60

REFERENCES 63

APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Summary of the aviation entities’ key CER-target areas Appendix 2. CER actions – Finnair

Appendix 3. CER actions – Lufthansa Group Appendix 4. CER actions – Air France-KLM Group

Appendix 5. Amount of CER-related posts in total and per platform by the aviation entities+ number of links to further information posted per aviation entity

Appendix 6. Percentage of CER-related posts out of all posts, in total and per platform Appendix 7. Posts by theme- Finnair

Appendix 8. Posts by theme- Lufthansa Group Appendix 9. Posts by theme- Air France-KLM Group Appendix 10. Types of CER-related posts- Finnair

Appendix 11. Types of CER-related posts- Lufthansa Group Appendix 12. Types of CER-related posts- Air France-KLM Group

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Figure 1. Three Strategies of Business Corporate Environmental Management. (Burritt,

et al., 2003) 6

Figure 2. Amount of CER-related posts in total and per platform by the aviation

entities+ number of links to further information posted per aviation entity. 50 Figure 3. Percentage of CER-related posts out of all posts, in total and per platform. 51

Figure 4. Posts by theme- Finnair. 54

Figure 5. Posts by theme- Air France-KLM Group. 55

Figure 6. Posts by theme- Lufthansa Group. 57

Figure 7. Post by theme- all posts from all aviation entities. 58 Figure 8. Types of CER-related posts- all posts from all aviation entities. 59

PICTURES

Picture 1. Finnair Twitter 24

Picture 8. Finnair Facebook 28

Picture 9. Finnair Facebook 28

Picture 10. Finnair Instagram 29

Picture 11. Finnair Instagram 30

Picture 12. Lufthansa Twitter 30

Picture 13. Lufthansa Twitter 31

Picture 14. Air France-KLM Twitter 33

Picture 23. KLM Facebook 37

Picture 27. KLM Instagram 41

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CER Corporate Environmental Responsibility (Aguado & Adelheid, 2018)

CO₂ Carbon dioxide

CORSIA Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Finnair, 2018)

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility (The University of Edinburgh, 2017)

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization (International Civil Aviation Organization)

KLM Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM, 2019)

NGO Non-governmental organization

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1. BACKGROUND

As commercial air travel continues to grow globally, the impact it has on the environment is expanding. Passenger numbers are climbing as the rising middle classes in the developing parts of the world have started to increasingly contribute to the growing demand for passenger air travel. This strong growth in demand outweighs the technological improvements in aircrafts, which had enabled the aviation industry to cut the fuel consumption per passenger kilometer in half since the year 1990. (Gornall, 2019) As the industry grows and people become continuously more mobile, a significant concern for the environment is frequently addressed by several entities, such as the United Nations (UN) and the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) (International Civil Aviation Organization). What kind of an impact does all this have on our planet, locally and globally? While it can be agreed that there are many parties who hold responsibility for the damage caused by air travel, such as customers, airlines and legal authorities, it is important to consider what these parties are doing and could do to help control and reduce the harm to the environment. For airlines, this situation creates a problematic dilemma. How to sustain the growing business, when the general public is becoming increasingly aware of the environmental issues caused by air travel and demand aviation companies to do their share to decrease their negative impact on environment? This research focuses on what kind of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) targets and actions the airlines and aviation groups of Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group include in their operations, and how they are communicating CER-related matters in their marketing to the public online on social media.

1.1 Research Motivation

As our world constantly changes in terms of efficiency and as a growing number of people are able to benefit from the development of new technologies and infrastructures, it is easy to embrace ourselves with all the convenience and availability. There does not always seem to be room for the concern for what all this consumerism and expanding lifestyles are doing to our environment. The same applies for air travel. The increasingly affordable air travel fares, new flight routes added continuously to make more

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destinations available and growing trend of traveling by plane are some of the main factors fueling this phenomenon. This raises many questions related to sustainability.

The researcher herself is a frequent flyer and travels by plane every two months. Being aware of the environmental issues with air travel, she always tries to find out whether other forms of transportation are available to her destination before booking a flight.

However, most of the time air travel is the only option, or significantly cheaper and faster than train, bus or ferry, for example. Hence, the researcher became interested to find out about the environmental responsibility targets and actions that airlines are currently implementing, and how they are communicating these values to their customers.

The researcher, being from Finland, became interested in Finnair’s sustainability operations. Known for their quality and high level of service, the airline was familiar to the researcher, who had used their services several times. However, the environmental policies were not well known to the researcher as she started her investigation. To be able to form a broader view of the CER target areas and actions in the aviation companies in Europe, the researcher decided to include the Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group in her research as well. This allows for comparison between the aviation companies of different sizes, Finnair being significantly smaller than the other two entities, and gives a more extensive view of how environmental responsibility is handled in the industry. The research hence focuses on how these three aviation entities conduct CER, and how they communicate about it in their marketing to the public on social media. Communicating and sharing knowledge on CER and other environmental matters contributes to responsible corporate behavior.

The companies’ sustainability reports from year 2018-2019 are used as a basis for acquiring knowledge on the CER targets and actions of the aviation entities, and additional empirical data is gained by conducting an observation to investigate the companies’ CER-related marketing communications on their major social media accounts; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

1.2 Objectives and Research Questions

The objective of this research is to find out about the CER target areas and actions of Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group. In addition, the research aims to find out how these three aviation entities communicate about CER-related matters to the

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public in their marketing communications online on social media. Potential differences in the CER-related marketing communications between the aviation entities are also observed.

The research questions are:

1. What CER target areas and actions do Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France- KLM Group currently include in their operations?

2. How do Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group communicate about CER-related matters to the public in their marketing communications on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts?

3. How do the CER-related social media marketing communications of Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group differ from each other?

1.3 Thesis Structure

To complete the research, a literature review is conducted to acquire knowledge and form a basis for the thesis. Environmental issues in the European Aviation Industry, the concept of corporate environmental responsibility, marketing communications, relevant social media platforms as well as the three studied aviation entities are included in this part of the thesis. Secondary data is collected from the aviation entities’ sustainability reports to answer the first research question. The methodology used to collect primary data is observation, taking place on the aviation entities’ Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. The results are presented in the form of tables and graphs, as well as detailed descriptions. An analysis, including comparisons between the airlines, and a conclusion follow.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Environmental Issues in the European Airline Industry

The amount of air traffic in the EU28+EFTA (European Free Trade Association) area grew by 8% between 2014 and 2017 and is estimated to grow by 42% from 2017 to 2040. (European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), et al., 2019) This increasing amount of flights within the region brings with itself a number of issues regarding the environment and people’s well-being. The levels of noise pollution and CO₂ emissions have been on the increase since 2014, despite the fact that fleet renewal, technological improvements and operational efficiency have counterbalanced the impact of the growth to some extent. (European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), et al., 2019) In 2016, 3,6% of the total EU28 greenhouse gas emissions came from aviation, and the industry was accountable for 13.4% of emissions from transport. The amount of people that are impacted by significant noise from the 47 major European airports is showing signs of stabilization, assuming there has not been a change in population size and no airport expansions. However, the number of major airports that handle more than 50,000 aircraft shifts in a year, is expected to increase from 82 in 2017 to 110 in 2040. This means more people are likely to be affected by air traffic noise. (European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), et al., 2019) On a positive note, the environmental efficiency of aviation is continuously increasing, and a 12% decrease in average fuel burn per passenger kilometer flown and a 24% decrease in noise energy per flight are forecasted by the year 2040. (European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), et al., 2019)

To tackle these and other environmental challenges created by air traffic, the EU is currently acting in three main areas: R&D (research and development) for greener technology, modernized air traffic management systems and market-based measures.

(European Commission, 2019) In practice this means several measures are implemented, such as the Clean Sky joint technology initiative, which aims at decreasing fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions by 50% per passenger kilometer, reducing NOx emissions by 80%, and unburnt hydrocarbon and CO₂ emissions by 50%, as well as aiming at significant noise reductions, all by the year 2020. In addition, an initiative called the Single European Sky (SES) is implemented and aims at modernizing the air traffic management systems in Europe, in order to reach several objectives, such as reducing emissions by 10% per flight. (European Commission, 2019) In addition, the EU follows

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an agreement by the ICAO Assembly in 2013 to create a global market-based mechanism to address international aviation emissions, meant to be applicable from 2020. The design and implementation of this agreement are still being discussed.

(European Commission, 2019)

2.2 Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER)

Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is considered a part of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is a term that has for a long time lacked a universal definition, having been defined in several varying ways for years. For the purposes of this thesis, CSR is defined as a business practice that places emphasis on conducting business in an ethical way, with consideration to the company’s economic, environmental and social impact, as well as human rights. (The University of Edinburgh, 2017). CSR is a way for companies to ensure that their practices minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts on society. CER, then, is a part of CSR, namely the environmental sub-section. CER, defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is a set of business practices that benefit or mitigate the negative impact that businesses have on the environment, and that go beyond of what is legally required of companies to obligate to. (Aguado & Adelheid, 2018) CER means paying attention to the environmental consequences of a company’s actions and taking initiative to minimalize the negative aspects of these consequences.

According to Burritt, Petersen and Schaltegger’s work “An Introduction to Corporate Environmental Management: Striving for Sustainability” (2003), there are three distinctive strategies in business corporate environmental management, namely sufficiency, consistency and efficiency. The strategies of efficiency aim to reduce the harm caused to the environment associated with each unit of output. While aiming at the optimal level of eco-friendliness, these strategies also maintain the financial profitability of production and consumption patterns. The strategy of sufficiency is prominent on a more psychological level and emphasizes the notion of “having enough”. It means that once an individual has enough of something, they will no longer need more, and unnecessary production of goods and services is avoided. Sufficiency places less importance on material as a quality indicator of life and more emphasis on leisure and a sense of community. The final strategy, consistency, deals with harmonizing the usage of energy and material with the underlying environmental purposes. It focuses on matter

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streams and energy forms that can permanently function in an ecological industry.

(Burritt, et al., 2003)

Figure 1. Three Strategies of Business Corporate Environmental Management. (Burritt, et al., 2003)

As Figure 1. above demonstrates, these three strategies can overlap and exist together in an environmental management plan. It is not always easy to distinguish them, as they often overlap each other.

As the environment continues to become more and more affected by companies’ actions and decisions regarding CER, the leaders of global companies are put in an especially important role. Consumers are expecting that companies, especially large international ones, take action to minimize their environmental footprint. In their work “Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts”, published in 2014, Epstein et al. discuss why it is crucial for CEOs to consider climate risks and take action to improve the impact their company has on the climate. They mention five reasons for why this is important:

leadership obligations, regulation, legal and regulatory liability, NGO pressures and shareholder activism. (Esptein, et al., 2014)

To guide CEOs on how to begin creating plans and taking action for the environment and climate, Epstein et al. (2014) mention four steps that are significant for any business in the process of initiating a climate plan: 1. Calculate greenhouse gas emissions over time, and place emphasis on areas where emissions can be reduced. 2. Evaluate what kind of an impact carbon-related opportunities and risks could have on the company.

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Calculate their effect on costs and revenue. 3. Based on information and knowledge collected in the first two steps, build strategies that enable the business to prepare and act on both opportunities and risks it might face. 4. Keep an eye on the strategies of competitors and aim at being more successful than them. (Esptein, et al., 2014) Following these steps helps to start the database of the environmental impact of the company, assessing it and following up on how this impact changes in the future. It helps CEOs to map where their business currently is in terms of sustainability and enables them to respond to consumers’ demand of environmental data from the company.

Knowing what the competition is aiming at further helps CEOs place their company in the field and create realistic targets, in terms of environmental, economic and social sustainability. Having a CER plan can also contribute to marketing communications as it can be used as a marketing draw for environmentally- conscious people. Having an eco- friendly brand image overall helps attract customers and creates a positive affiliation.

In order to help both customers and investors know which companies they can trust to be socially, environmentally and economically responsible, several socially responsible investment indices have been born. These investment indices rank companies accordingly to certain economic, environmental and social criteria. One such entity is the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Indexes, that has been listing and ranking companies accordingly to their sustainability output since 1999. (Esptein, et al., 2014) There are five elements used in the Sustainability Assessment of companies: 1. Innovation, taking into consideration the investments done to reach a more efficient use of resources by innovation. 2. Governance; demanding high standards of governance in areas such as corporate culture and management responsibility. 3. Shareholders; considering the level of financial returns and economic growth provided for shareholders. 4. Leadership, meaning high level of performance and standards for best practice. 5. Society;

investments in local and global communities, interacting with and responding to the needs of stakeholders. (Esptein, et al., 2014) Information on these five categories is obtained through several ways, including company documentation, reports and policies, public information and answers to a survey on corporate sustainability. Assessed companies are also monitored for their participation in environmental, economic and social issues through stakeholder organizations and the media. As the last part of the evaluation, the companies are assessed using industry-specific and general sustainability measures. (Esptein, et al., 2014)

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Listing and ranking companies in this way encourages and pressures them to operate in a responsible way, as well as take active part in their local and global communities. When companies know they are being monitored, they are inclined to take an extra step to appear respectful and considerate of the social and environmental surroundings they are impacting. Due to the strict evaluation process, only appearing respectful would be challenging, and hence companies are forced to invest at least their time on socially important issues. Ranking companies also provides consumers with information on how their preferred companies are performing in this area. This contributes to the pressure of operating in a sustainable way for companies, and further empathizes the importance of the issue.

While CER-related issues are appearing in the media more frequently than before, airline companies and aviation groups are facing increased pressure from the public to take action to combat and communicate about such issues, share information and knowledge.

The companies’ images are increasingly being impacted by the image they portray of themselves on social media. Communicating about environmental issues is an important part of creating a favorable company image. By taking action and telling people about it, aviation companies can draw positive attention to themselves and consequently enhance their marketing and sales.

2.3 Marketing Communications

Marketing communications, forming part of the marketing mix, include all the means, instruments and approaches by which a company communicates with its stakeholders and target groups with the aim of promoting its services, products and the company as a whole. (Pelsmacker, et al., 2010) The instruments used in marketing communications mix include advertising, public relations, point-of-purchase communications at shops and sales locations, sales promotions, sponsorship by the company for different causes, e- communications such as internet and mobile marketing, personal selling such as direct mailing and telemarketing, as well as exhibitions and trade fairs. (Pelsmacker, et al., 2010)

By using marketing communications, companies try to deliver a message or convince their audience to purchase their products or services. Besides this, marketing communications is an important tool for branding as well as creating and modifying the company image. By including specific themes, ideas, messages and causes in their

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marketing communications, companies can create connections to varying issues, causes or matters they want to appear linked or associated with. Such causes can be NGOs or charities, for example. This kind of marketing helps create a positive brand image in the minds of customers. Companies can use marketing communications to personally address specifically chosen individuals, in which case it can be called personal communications. If the message is conveyed using mass media and targeted at a large audience of individuals who are not identified, then it is called mass communications. In personal communications, mainly personal selling and direct and interactive marketing actions are used. In mass communications, a larger variety of means, such as mass media advertising, sales promotions, point-of purchase communications, sponsorships, e-communications, exhibitions and trade fairs, are included. (Pelsmacker, et al., 2010) For the purpose of this thesis, social media mass communications of the studied aviation entities are observed.

2.4 Social Media: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Instagram

Created by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom and launched in 2010, this photo-sharing and social networking platform has gained popularity especially amongst young people.

(Halligan & Shah, 2014) With over one billion monthly active users, (Stout, 2019) Instagram was created especially for smartphones, and includes functions such as a camera, photo-editing and sharing to Instagram and other social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as 15-second short video recording and “story”-sharing.

Users are able to “like”, “comment” and share public profiles’ content on the platform.

Since 2012, Instagram has been owned by Facebook. More than 90 percent of Instagram users are under the age of 35, and 68% of them are women. (Halligan & Shah, 2014) Instagram is also an advertising platform, and companies can advertise in feed posts and stories, using still images or videos. It is estimated that Instagram’s revenue from advertising doubled to 9 billion USD in 2018. (Amin, 2019) This means that the platform has become an important mean of communication for companies to build their brand image, advertise and communicate with current and potential customers. Instagram is used by companies of all sizes to market and advertise their products, as it is an effective way of reaching their specific target audiences. Companies can use Instagram’s specific

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they are interested in. (Instagram, 2019) Some companies also collaborate with influencers on Instagram, and the inclusion of micro-influencers with 1,000-100,000 followers has become increasingly popular in the recent years, especially with smaller companies. Micro-influencers tend to be more affordable to collaborate with and engage more with their followers. (Anderson, 2019) Companies can also launch competitions and broaden the reach of their social media campaigns through the platform.

Twitter

Primarily a microblogging platform created by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, Twitter is a global social networking venue that allows people to post short, 140-character updates known as tweets. Users can follow each other to keep up to date with each other’s tweets, as well as “re-tweet” each other’s posts. After Twitter’s launch in 2006, several politicians, celebrities and large-scale influencers have become users of the platform. Overall Twitter has around 330 million monthly active users (Stout, 2019) and has more recently become an important venue of conversations and news regarding global issues, as well as a way for companies to share their news, information and advertising. It is a place where people, organizations and public entities express their opinions and take stand on current events and local and global matters. Twitter’s user engagement has been growing in 2019, and it is estimated that the company’s ad revenue will grow to 2.97 billion USD by the end of the year. (Pash, 2019)

Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg’s creation that was introduced in 2004, Facebook is currently the largest social media platform, based on the number of active users. (Stout, 2019) With 2.4 billion monthly active users, the platform offers networking and sharing functions for private users and marketing possibilities for companies and organizations. Companies and businesses have their own pages on the platform, allowing them to directly communicate with customers through wall posts and private messaging, as well as advertising. In fact, Facebook marketing forms a significant part of digital ad spend in 2019. (Stout, 2019) By using Facebook Ads, companies can reach increasingly large amounts of audience and target specific groups of interest, as well as provide links to their own websites. Companies are also able to follow up on statistics on engagement and page visits. Users, both companies and private people, can share status updates, photos, videos and chat on the Facebook Messenger. They can also react and comment to posts made by other accounts.

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2.5 Airline/Airline Groups: Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group

Finnair

Finnair, originally called Aero, is a Finnish network airline founded on November 1^st, 1923 by Bruno Lucander. (Finnair, 2019) Finnair specializes in passenger and cargo transport between Europe and Asia, having Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland as its home base.

The beneficial location of the airport gives Finnair a great competitive advantage in terms of connections to North-East Asia, as Helsinki is located on the fastest route to the continent from many locations in Europe. The company’s goal is to offer the quickest and smoothest routes in the Northern region and to deliver a high-quality Nordic experience to its customers. The airline is a member of the Oneworld alliance, and the only Nordic airline with a 4-star Skytrax ranking. (Finnair, 2018) Finnair’s 2018 revenue was 2,83 billion euros (Finnair), while the company employed 6462, which is 544 more than the previous year. Most of the Finnair employees work at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Finland. (Finnair, 2018)

Lufthansa Group

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, founded on January 6^th, 1953 as Luftag, and currently known as Lufthansa Group, is a Germany-based aviation group with international operations.

(Lufthansa Group) It is one of the largest airline groups in the world and the leading one in Europe, with a revenue of 35.8 billion euros in the financial year 2018. The Lufthansa Group is divided into three departments, namely Aviation Services, Eurowings and Network Airlines. The former two segments have differentiated portfolio, which enables the Lufthansa Group to offer suitable travel options for both high end customers and price-sensitive customers. (Lufthansa Group). The group employed 135,534 people in 2018, and its airlines are aiming to grow faster than average in the future. Lufthansa Group offers both direct and connection flights to hundreds of destinations, and in August 2019, the airlines in the group had a combined number of more than 14.1 million passengers onboard. (Lufthansa Group)

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Air France-KLM Group

Air France-KLM group is an aviation corporation, created by the merging of two airlines, Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Founded in 2004, the group has its main hubs at Amsterdam- Schiphol and Paris-Charles de Gaulle and operates up to 2,300 flights daily. (Air France-KLM Group) The main areas of business for the corporation are aeronautical maintenance, cargo transport and passenger transport. Being one of the largest airline groups in Europe, it covers 312 destinations in 116 countries, including transport offered by the group member Transavia. Air France-KLM Group is a founding member of the SkyTeam Alliance, and together with 19 other airlines, it forms a part of a global network that with daily flights to over 1,150 destinations worldwide. (Air France- KLM Group) In 2018, the Air France-KLM Group employed 81,527 people, and flew 101,4 million customers globally. Its 2018 revenue was 26,5 billion euros. (Air France- KLM Group, 2018)

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3. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY

3.1 Methodology

The research is an exploratory study by nature and uses a deductive approach. The method used in this research is observation, and the empirical data collected is primarily qualitative data. The aviation entities 2018/2019 sustainability reports are studied and analyzed, alongside sections on environmental issues in the European airline industry, general information on CER, as well as marketing communications and social media, to form a basis for the research. For the sustainability reports, the information found is used to answer the first research question, “What CER target areas and actions do Finnair, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM Group currently include in their operations?” Due to the length of the reports, the CER targets and actions of the airlines are summarized in tables and graphs to ease understanding and analysis.

In addition, the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts of these aviation entities are observed. For Lufthansa Group, Facebook and Instagram observation focuses on the Lufthansa account, as there appears to be no separate account for the whole Lufthansa Group. For Air France-KLM Group, Facebook and Instagram observation is conducted on both Air France and KLM’s separate accounts, as there appears to be no common account for the group on these platforms. The findings are then combined into a common value.

The observation of the social media accounts focuses on finding CER-related posts and counting them, grouping them accordingly to their theme and whether they are a video, plain text or text with (a) picture(s). For each studied company, posts and sections on the companies’ social media accounts are considered CER-related when they fulfill the following requirements:

1) They include at least one of the following keywords; sustainability, environment, environmental footprint/impact, pollution, plastic, single-use, packaging, climate, climate policy, emission, carbon, CO₂, waste, recycling, upcycling, biocomponent, biofuel, sustainable aviation fuel, fuel, bio, energy-efficiency/consumption, clean energy, noise- reduction, noise-abatement, noise (level/disturbance), emissions compensation, weight, on-demand concept, environmental strategy/management, sustainable development,

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solar power, route optimization, CER, CSR, eco-piloting/flying, green operations or a combination of the above words

or

The post includes logos, imagery or graphs that can be interpreted by an average viewer to be related to environmental responsibility topics (for example; nature, plastic packaging, pollution)

and

The overall content of the post or section can be judged by an average viewer to be related to environmental responsibility topics.

The researcher observes and counts each studied aviation entity’s total amount of CER- related posts, the amount of CER-related posts per observed social media platform, total amount of CER-related posts with a link to further information, percentage of CER- related posts out of all posts and percentage of CER-related posts per studied social media platform. In addition, based on the keywords and imagery, the CER-posts will be categorized into ten main categories; 1. fuel usage, emissions & CO₂-related 2. energy consumption & saving, solar power 3. plastic, materials, packaging, waste 4. noise 5.

cabin-related 6. weight 7. environment & nature 8. recycling & upcycling 9. sustainable and biofuel 10. general CER. One posts can belong to several categories, depending on the mentioned keywords and imagery. The CER-related posts will also be grouped based on their type; videos, images with text and plain text-posts.

On Facebook, only posts in the feed are counted, as at the time of the research, Facebook did not offer a saved stories-function to access published Facebook stories from the past. For Instagram, “highlighted” (saved) stories are included separately in the post count. One highlight of maximum 10 story slides is counted as one post, a highlight with 10-20 slides is counted as two posts and so on. This is because the maximum amount of videos or pictures in one standard Instagram feed post is 10. (Constine, 2017) The observation and counting of the posts, keywords and imagery are done manually, and the findings are then converted into tables and graphs. The numeric values are converted into percentages where appropriate to allow for a more efficient analysis.

After conducting the study on the aviation entities’ sustainability reports and previously mentioned social media platforms, an analysis and comparison between the three

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aviation entities takes place. This comparison focuses on the different ways the airlines are communicating about CER-related topics on social media, if at all. It also explores the possible differences in the content, types, and quantity of social media coverage that the airlines are giving CER.

Finally, conclusions are drawn based on the analysis of the sustainability reports, social media CER-marketing communications observation and comparisons, where appropriate. Recommendations will be given as part of the conclusion.

3.2 Timeframe

Timeframe of literature and sustainability report overview: May-September 2019 Observed timeframe on social media: May 20^th, 2019, until September 20^th, 2019.

Timeframe of observation of social media: September-October 2019

The length of the observed timeframe is four months as the researcher estimated this to be long enough to give an indication of the aviation entities’ posting styles. The observed timeframe was set to be from May 20^th until September 20^th, 2019, because this was the most recent four-month period before the start of the observation.

3.3 Limitations

As the social media platforms are observed for keywords and imagery manually, and the data is also collected and analyzed manually, there is a risk for human errors. This risk of miscalculating or missing significant points while observing is minimalized by re- checking the social media platforms twice to make sure that no posts were missed. In addition, the platforms were checked for a timeframe of seven days prior and after the observed period to detect any posts from the observed timeframe that the platform algorithm would have placed before or after posts outside of the timeframe. To avoid errors when analyzing the data, the numbers and percentages are calculated twice to detect any possible mistakes.

Due to the length and detail of the sustainability reports, the main findings regarding the first research question are summarized to make analyzing more efficient. The researcher

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aims at being as objective as possible when reading the sustainability reports and making the summaries to minimize the risk of subjective analysis.

When choosing the keywords and imagery for the categorizing of the CER-posts, the researcher aims at being as objective as possible and eliminates keywords that do not have an obvious relation to CER-issues or that could not be objectively classified as being related to CER.

Due to the observatory nature of the study, some subjectivity is unavoidable in terms of what posts are classified as CER and the grouping of the CER-topics accordingly to theme. To minimize this subjectivity and to gain validity, only terms and imagery widely used in aviation sustainability reports are accepted as keywords.

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4. RESEARCH RESULTS

4.1 Sustainability Reports

4.1.1 Finnair

Finnair’s company policy includes a plan for continuous improvement regarding environmental sustainability practices and cleaner, eco-friendly operations. In Finnair’s sustainability report for 2018, the company identifies four key environmental aspects that they focus on: emissions from the use of jet fuel, flight noise, energy consumption of properties and cabin waste. Finnair has analyzed the impacts, opportunities and threats related to these key aspects, as well as created targets to improve them. (Finnair, 2018) Mainly due to increased flight traffic and operational challenges, Finnair’s CO₂ emissions from flight operations in 2018 increased by 11.7% since the previous year, as well as available ton-kilometers increased by 13% over the same timeframe. As one way to combat the increasing emissions, Finnair conducted a customer survey to find out about the attitudes of Finns regarding the different ways of compensating or reducing the different emissions caused by their air travel. They found out that most Finns would be willing to pay to compensate for the environmental damage caused by their flights, as long as the profits from such compensation payments go straight to environmental work.

Hence, in early 2019 Finnair launched an option for its customers to choose between supporting the use of biofuels and carbon capture initiatives when they fly with Finnair.

(Finnair, 2018)

To further improve the jet fuel efficiency of its operations, Finnair further renewed its fleet and introduced the next-generation Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, bringing the number of these aircraft in Finnair’s fleet to 12 by the end of 2018. These aircraft are 20–25 per cent more fuel-efficient than their predecessors. This renewal also reduces noise pollution, as the fleet is quieter than the older versions. To further minimize disturbance caused by flight noise, Finnair has schedules most of its arrivals and departures at less undesirable times in terms of noise pollution. The company also uses the continuous descent approach (CDA), which helps reduce flight noise within 10 kilometers of the airport. However, this technology requires favorable weather conditions and

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uncongested airspace, which often are not achievable at the busy Helsinki-Vantaa airport. (Finnair, 2018)

The energy consumption of Finnair facilities decreased by 5.6% in 2018. This was the first full year when the Cool Cargo terminal could enjoy energy generated by the solar panels installed on it. Finnair is part of a nation-wide service sector’s energy efficiency agreement, which requires the company to decrease its properties’ energy consumption by 7% from the 2016 level by 2025. (Finnair, 2018)

The amount of waste created by Finnair increased by 9.4% from previous year, mainly due to increase in traffic. Finnair has set objectives to increase waste recovery, cost efficiency and safety, and to reduce the volume of waste. The goal is to utilize waste as energy or material. In addition to this, Finnair places special concern over cabin waste.

The company is actively improving its plastic recycling, reducing the amount of single use plastics used and by introducing responsible decision making in inflight services by 2022. The company has started serving carton-packed Finnish milk on its domestic and European flights and removing plastic packaging from renewed amenity kits. Together these actions reduce waste by five tons and plastic waste by ten tons annually. (Finnair, 2018)

4.1.2 Lufthansa Group

According to Lufthansa Group’s Balance 2019 Sustainability Report, the group has four core areas of focus when it comes to environmental responsibility: environmental management, fuel consumption and emissions, energy and resource management, as well as active noise abatement. The group aims to respond to the increasing demand for air travel with environmentally friendly products, and to continuously increase the eco- efficiency of its operations. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

When it comes to environmental management systems, Lufthansa Group is working on expanding its application of these systems according to ISO14001 or EMAS (Eco- Management and Audit Scheme) at the group airlines. In 1999, Lufthansa CityLine was the first airline in the industry to create a professional environmental management system and to be EMAS-approved in year 2000. CityLine is also certified by the international environmental standard ISO 14001. The environmental management system at the Munich location of Deutsche Lufthansa AG received the previously

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mentioned certifications in 2019, and the airline is now planning on extending this certified management system to other locations as well. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) Regarding fuel consumption and emissions, the CO₂ emissions of the Lufthansa Group increased by 6.6% in 2019 compared to the previous year. To battle the increasing emissions and harm to the environment, the group is taking action in four main categories, as formed at the 2007 IATA Assembly in the aviation industry’s climate protection strategy: technological progress, improved infrastructure, operational measures and economic measures. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

According to Balance Sustainability Report 2019, to reach technological progress, Lufthansa Group is investing in new, eco-friendly and fuel-efficient fleet and engine technologies. In addition to this, the group is also involved in the research and testing of alternative fuels. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) Regarding improved infrastructure, a significant and important goal is to reach better use of air space. The group strongly supports and works for the Single European Sky initiative, which aims at creating a unified air space above Europe, so that airlines could fly the most optimal routes and hence significantly reduce their CO₂ emissions. Lufthansa Group believes the work of air traffic controllers could be significantly facilitated, if the operating systems became more virtual and digital. Besides this, needs-based airport infrastructures will facilitate more efficient flight operations and consequently enhance the technological process of the climate protection strategy. The Lufthansa Group works in this area to implement systematically linked air, rail and road traffic venues. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

In addition to the two categories mentioned above, operational measures form a vital role in achieving ideal climate protection measures. Important parts of this category are optimal aircraft sizes, as well as optimal flight routes and speeds. Optimized processes on the ground can also contribute to large cost-savings and decrease the environmental burden caused by air traffic operations. For example, Lufthansa Cargo is conducting experiments on the use of more light-weight palettes for freight storage. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

The final category in the climate protection measure program is economic measures.

This is virtually an international, market-based system designed to reduce emissions to complement the other three categories. One part of this is the agreement on climate protection- CORSIA, adopted in October 2016. According to this agreement, airlines must compensate for growth-related CO₂ emissions in international civil aviation from

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2021 onwards. The compensation is to be made from CO₂ savings gained from climate protection projects. Another significant part of the economic measures is voluntary CO₂ compensation. Lufthansa and SWISS are currently offering the majority of their customers the option to offset their CO₂ emissions by having them calculated online, and then making a corresponding donation to their climate protection project of choice.

(Lufthansa Group, 2019)

Continuing with Lufthansa Group’s four core areas of environmental responsibility, the third one is energy and resource management. The group’s target is to have completely CO₂-neutral ground operations in its home markets, namely Austria, Germany and Switzerland, by the year 2030. To reach this goal, Lufthansa Group will be utilizing electric and other emissions-free propulsion systems in its vehicles, maximize the use of electricity from 100% renewable sources and use this renewable energy to power as many Lufthansa Group buildings, as possible. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) In addition to this major target, the group is also taking initiative in other areas of energy and resource management. One example is the Flygreener initiative, which involves product and cabin waste management, the LSG group and airports. The Lufthansa Group is also actively reducing the amount of single-use plastic in its catering and avoiding including superfluous catering items on flights at all. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

The fourth and final core area of environmental responsibility for the Lufthansa Group is active noise abatement. This core area is divided into five sub-categories, namely investments in quieter aircraft, noise-reducing technologies for the existing fleet, participation in noise-research, optimization of approach and departure procedures, and finally, dialogue with residents near airports and other stakeholders. (Lufthansa Group, 2019).

To address issues related to reducing the noise-levels of its fleet, the Lufthansa group is removing the older model aircrafts from operation and including a new generation of fleet, such as the Airbus A350-900 and Airbus A320neo. To improve the noise-levels of the already existing fleet, the group is introducing noise-reducing vortex generators.

(Lufthansa Group, 2019) The Lufthansa Group is also taking active part in noise research, meaning they are collaborating with industry and research partners in developing and analyzing new measures in the field. The use of new navigation technologies, new method development and testing as well as co-operating with system partners are ways that the group is optimizing it departure and approach procedures.

The Lufthansa Group is also in continuous exchange with residents of airport areas, who

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are affected by noise pollution. This communication happens through dialogue forums, in large part. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)

4.1.3 Air France-KLM Group

In their sustainability report for 2018, Air France-KLM Group Takes Care, the group identifies six main pillars in their climate action plan, which it is focusing its environmental sustainability efforts in. The first pillar includes plans to contribute to aeronautical research and to engage in fleet modernization, whereas the second pillar focuses on initiating operational measure, such as route optimization. The third pillar engages in the usage and development of sustainable aviation fuel, and the fourth pillar relates to informing customers on the CO₂ emissions caused by their air travel and offering the possibility to offset these. The fifth pillar consists of plans of supporting the implementation of CORSIA, an international, industry-wide climate agreement. Finally, the sixth pillar relates to supporting environmental programs carried out by non- governmental organizations. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)

In order to decrease their environmental footprint and emissions, both Air France and KML are actively renewing and modernizing their fleet. This also contributes to energy savings. Regarding the Climate Action Plan’s Pillar One, Air France removed older generation aircrafts from both its long-haul and medium-haul fleet and replaced these with new planes in 2018. In addition, seven ATR42/72-500s were retired from the fleet and replaced with the first of seven new Embraer 190s. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) KLM Cityhopper included five new Embraer 175s and two new Embraer 190s. KLM also reinforced the B787-9 fleet with three units. In addition to these changes, the modernization of the fleet will continue with the introduction of fuel-efficient fleet, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus 350. Besides this, the continuous retirement of existing fleet, such as the Air France Airbus 340 and the KLM Boeing 747, will be taking place. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)

Regarding the second pillar on implementing operational measures, the Air France-KLM Group is taking action on weight reduction and route optimization, for example. At Air France, some examples of weight reduction measures include the controlling of the weight of items taken onboard. The impact of the Air France Magazine was reduced, as well as meal trays and crockery. The amount of needed drinking water taken on board

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France-KLM Group, 2018) At KLM, similar efforts on reducing onboard- item weight resulted in C0₂ reductions of 4,000 tons in 2018. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) Route optimization, by opening new spaces and passing of free routes has enabled the Air France-KLM group to achieve additional deductions on emissions. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)

In relation to the third pillar, which engages itself with the development and usage of sustainable aviation fuel, the Air France-KLM Group is taking action to reach its CO₂ emission reduction targets. In the year 2018, KLM and its corporate bio-fuel partners used a combined amount of 1,300 tons of bio-kerosene. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) Air France, on the other hand, took part in Green Deal, which promotes the surfacing of aviation bio-fuel industries, in economically feasible conditions and in full integration of the principles of circular economy. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)

In line with the fourth pillar, in order to offer their customers the possibility of off-setting their CO₂ emissions, Air France and KLM include CO₂ calculators on their website.

Customers can use these calculators to calculate the amount of emissions caused by their travel, based on the length of the flight, and the fuel-efficiency data of the aircraft.

Passengers can then offset their emissions by donating to environmental causes, such as A Tree for You and CO₂ reduction projects certified by Gold Standard. (Air France- KLM Group, 2018)

Looking more closely at the fifth pillar that involves plans regarding the CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) agreement, The Air France- KLM Group strongly support the cause together with other IATA airlines. The group takes part in structuring the implementation plan for the agreement. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) CORSIA aims at carbon-neutral growth by restricting CO₂ emission levels from international aviation. In preparation for launching the CORSIA agreement into action, Air France, KLM and other member airlines started calculating their CO₂ emissions for reference data purposes on January 1^st, 2019. These emissions are calculated from international flights, and all aviation operators globally are expected to turn in their data.

This data is collected to create the average emissions statistics for years 2019 and 2020.

The first phase of CORSIA is expected to begin in 2021. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) The sixth and final pillar includes the co-operation and supporting of plans to protect the environment together with non-governmental organizations (NGO). The Air France-KLM group works closely together with varying NGOs on different projects. One example is

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the collaboration of Air France, the NGO EtcTerra, the Madagascan State and public sector landing agencies. Air France takes part in this collaboration by contributing to the Holistic Forestry Conservation Program (HFCP), located on Madagascar. This program supports a REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) The HFCP program was launched in 2008, and ten years later in 2018, it was rewarded a carbon certification, which was one of its targets. Profits from related carbon credit sales will be directed to support the financing of the third phase of the program. This phase ensures a long-term sustainability for the project, offering support for local communities working on conserving their environment.

(Air France-KLM Group, 2018)

Summary tables of the CER target areas and actions of the aviation entities can be found in appendix 1.-4.

Summary tables and graphs of results from the social media CER-marketing communications observation can be found in appendix 5.-12.

The following section contains more detailed information on the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts of the studied aviation entities, as well as the most significant examples of the data collected from these platforms.

4.2 Finnair

4.2.1 Finnair on Twitter

At the time of the observation, Finnair’s Twitter account had 102 000 followers and 19 000 tweets. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) During the period of May 20^th until September 20^th,

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2019, Finnair posted a total of 159 tweets, out of which 15 were CER-related. Two of these posts were re-tweets. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) This equals to 9.4% of Finnair’s Twitter posts being CER-related for the time frame.

Finnair tweeted three times about environmental issues in their short-video series “Small things matter”. The topics included onboard item weight and their impact on emissions, as well as local supplier ethical standards. Picture 1. below shows an example of such post.

All screenshots: (Finnair Twitter, 2019)

Picture 1. Finnair Twitter.

Keywords: weight, emissions, sustainability, carbon emissions

Finnair tweeted about cabin-related CER-measures five times. The main themes in these tweets are the decreased amount of plastic packaging in in travel kits and onboard meal and other food options, as well as the improved sustainability with recycled and bioplastics. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) Pictures 2. and 3. are examples of such posts.

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Keywords: environment, fuel, recycle, plastic, weight, emissions

Keywords: sustainability, recycled plastic, bioplastic, on-demand concept

Imagery: re-usable and durable cabin items

Finnair also posted about fuel and emissions savings in several tweets, as well as twice about their bio-fuel usage. Pictures 4. and 5. show examples of posts regarding these matters.

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Keywords: fuel savings, emissions and noise reduction

Keywords: biofuel, CO₂ emissions

In addition, the company posted employee-focused tweets regarding sustainability.

These included the recruitment of a new Sustainability leader, as shown in Picture 6., and a short video of Finnair Fuel Efficiency Manager Hanna Salmi talking about her profession, Picture 7.

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Keywords: sustainability

Keywords: energy consumption, fuel efficiency, fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions, weight, carbon footprint

4.2.2 Finnair’s Facebook Page

At the time of the observation, Finnair’s Facebook account had 639,366 likes and 643,447 followers. (Finnair, 2019) During the four-month time period from May 20^th until September 20^th, 2019, Finnair posted 59 times, and out of these posts, two were CER- related. This equals to 3.4% of the company’s posts being CER-related. The first post in Picture 8., a link to Finnair’s Blue Wings magazine discussing plastic use in the travel industry, is from July 10^th. The second post in picture 9., published on July 26^th, is also a link to Blue Wings magazine article. This article discusses the new travel kit with reduced amount of plastic for economy comfort customers. (Finnair, 2019) Both these posts could also be found on Finnair’s Twitter account.

All screenshots: (Finnair, 2019)

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Picture 8. Finnair Facebook.

Keywords: single-use plastics, plastic Imagery: plastics bags

Picture 9. Finnair Facebook.

Keywords: plastics

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4.2.3 Finnair’s Instagram Account

At the time of conducting the observation, Finnair’s Instagram account “feelfinnair”

had 203,000 followers and 1,401 posts. (Finnair, 2019) During the time period of March 20^th until September 20^th, 2019, Finnair posted 135 times, and two of these posts were CER-related. This equals to 1.4% of the posts being related to CER in some way. The first post’s caption (Picture 10.) mentions Finnair Kitchen’s recycling program and how they recycle transparent food package plastics. The second post mentions Finnair’s new fleet and their improved fuel efficiency (Picture 11.). (Finnair, 2019)

All screenshots: (Finnair, 2019)

Picture 10. Finnair Instagram.

Keywords: plastic, recycling Imagery: plastic food packaging

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Picture 11. Finnair Instagram.

Keywords: fuel-efficient

4.3 Lufthansa Group

4.3.1 Lufthansa on Twitter

This part of the research is based on the Twitter account of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, as the Lufthansa Group did not have a common Twitter account at the time of the observation. Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the main airline in the Lufthansa Group.

At the time of the observation, Lufthansa had 441 000 followers and 109 000 tweets. (Twitter Lufthansa, 2019) During the period of observation, May 20^th until September 20^th, 2019, Lufthansa posted 71 tweets, out of which four were CER- related. This equals to 5.6% of the posts from this time frame being related to CER.

All screenshots: (Twitter Lufthansa, 2019)

Lufthansa’s first CER-related tweet during the observed time frame is from August 28^th, 2019. This tweet, in Picture 12., is not directly related to the Lufthansa company’s CER, but their home airport’s extensive solar power system installations in 2003. However, the company has tagged itself on the tweet using #LHHistory and #Lufthansa.

Picture 12. Lufthansa Twitter.

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Key words: sustainable, solar power Imagery: solar power plant

The remaining three CER-related posts from the airline are related to the Lufthansa Upcycling Collection. Two of these posts are videos showing how the items in the collection are made, and one post is a picture showing products from the collection. The Upcycling Collection includes items that are created and produced using materials from a retired A340 aircraft (Picture 13.).

Picture 13. Lufthansa Twitter.

Keyword: Upcycling

4.3.2 Lufthansa’s Facebook Page

At the time of the research, Lufthansa Group did not have a common Facebook page, therefore Lufthansa airline’s page was used for the observation. At the time of the research, Lufthansa’s page had 3,885,273 likes and 3,867,553 followers. During the observation period, May 20^th until September 20^th, 2019, Lufthansa published 120 posts.

None of these were related to CER. Most of the posts from the timeframe were informational travel inspiration posts about cities that Lufthansa flies to. (Lufthansa Facebook, 2019)

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4.3.3 Lufthansa’s Instagram Account

As the Lufthansa Group did not have a common Instagram account at the time of the research, its main airline Lufthansa’s account was observed from May 20^th until September 20^th, 2019.

At the time of the observation, Lufthansa’s Instagram account had 1,2 million followers and 2309 posts. From the observed time period, Lufthansa had 124 posts, out of which none were CER-related. Majority of the posts were related to different travel destinations and inspiration. (Lufthansa Instagram, 2019)

4.4 Air France-KLM

Since the Air France-KLM group does not have common Instagram and Facebook accounts, the separate accounts of Air France and KLM were observed on these platforms, and the results combined. The group’s common Twitter account was observed in addition.

4.4.1 Air France-KLM Group on Twitter

At the time of the observation, the Air France-KLM account on Twitter had 1540 tweets and 9472 followers. (Air France-KLM Twitter, 2019) During the observed period, Air France-KLM had posted 100 tweets, out of which 25 were CER-related. This is equal to 25% of the tweets being CER-related. (Air France-KLM Twitter, 2019)

All screenshots: (Air France-KLM Twitter, 2019)

The group posted two tweets related to their commitment on reducing the environmental impact of their operations. The first tweet, in Picture 14., is a quote from Air France-KLM CEO, Benjamin Smith, who mentions that the group has accomplished concrete results with their environmental impact reduction plan, such as a 21% decrease in carbon emissions between 2011 and 2018.

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Picture 14. Air France-KLM Twitter.

Keywords: sustainable development, environmental impact, carbon emissions The group also tweeted a link to their 2018 CSR-report, shown in Picture 15.

They portray themselves as the leaders bearing the responsibility of setting new, more sustainable standards in the aviation industry.

Picture 15. Air France-KLM Twitter.

Keywords: sustainable

Air France-KLM posted a series of tweets related to the 2019 Movin’ on Connect- summit in Montreal. This summit focused on the discussion around the sustainability challenges and possibilities of aviation in the future. Topics such as CO₂ emissions, eco-flying,