Friends in High Places: Airlines on Facebook

Searching Facebook for “airlines” yields more than 500 results, including official “pages” (which are administered by airline staff) and unofficial “groups” (which can be started by fans or off-duty employees). This can get confusing, since groups and pages look the same, and since some groups seem to serve as official pages, while some pages claim to be “unofficial.” To make things messier, some companies have multiple accounts (EL AL Airlines has three pages) while some have plenty of friends, but no content to show for it (Delta Air Lines has 7,570 fans but no updates).

Online social networking requires companies to relinquish a certain amount of control, and some airlines are letting go more than others. American Airlines’ wall is populated by messages from customers, some disgruntled (“We need to start a movement against AA and their GROSSED out 757s (domestic)… How do we do this…”). Other companies, such as Royal Brunei Airlines, simply recycle content from their website.

There’s also the messy issue of employee pages. Pilots, flight attendants and airport staff – both former and current – have created their own spaces on Facebook to keep in touch. These pages are usually open to the public and branded with airline logos, making them indistinguishable at first glance from official pages. This can be a recipe for a PR fiasco: in November, Virgin Atlantic Airlines fired 13 flight attendants who criticized the airline’s safety standards and dissed its passengers on Facebook. On the other hand, is there any better or cheaper publicity than a spontaneous employee love-in?

Below is our list of airlines that have an official Facebook presence (with their current number of friends in parentheses). Let us know if we’ve missed any and we’ll add them to the list:

Aegean Airlines (572)
Aer Lingus (885)
Air Asia (3,415)
Air Canada (8,959)
Air France (2,275)
Air New Zealand (1,403)
Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air (2,652)
Allegiant Air (296)
American Airlines (10,954)
Arabian Airlines (194)
Asiana Airlines (254)
ATA (defunct) (547)
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (558)
Austrian Airlines (1,129)
Austrian Airlines Srbija (183)
Avensa (467)
Axis French Airlines (106)
Azerbaijan Airlines (976)
B&H Airlines (655)
Blue Panorama Airlines (106)
British Airways (219)
Brussels Airlines (1,495)
Cargolux Airlines International (480)

Cathay Pacific Airways (11,049)
Chanchangi Airlines (357)
China Airlines (510)
China Eastern Airlines (100)
China Southern Airlines (232)
Click Air (545)
Continental Airlines (5,996)
Copa Airlines (990)
Croatia Airlines (1,419)
Czech Airlines (751)
Delta Air Lines (7,506)
EasyJet (4,971)
EgyptAir (621)
EL AL Airlines (293)
Emirates (27, 423)
Ethiopian Airlines (1,148)
Eurofly (260)
Firefly (1,213)
FlyBe (72)
Frontier Airlines (569)
Ghana International Airlines (210)
Gulf Air (1,987)
Hawaiian Airlines (4,003)
Iceland Air (8,046)
Japan Airlines (2,475)
JetBlue Airways (7,536)
Jetstar Airways (1,497)

Kenya Airways (448)
Kingfisher Airlines (915)
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (1,546)
Korean Air (1,300)
LAN Airlines (4,378)
Lufthansa (5,105)
Malaysia Airlines (2,272)
Mandala Airlines (857)
Meridiana (1,808)
Merpati Nusantara Airlines (458)
Mexicana Airlines (431)
Middle East Airlines (3,734)
Midwest Airlines(410)
MK Airlines Ltd. (184)
Northwest Airlines (583)
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines 610)
Olympic Airlines (1,326)
Pacific Blue Airlines (486)
Pacific Coastal Airlines (318)
Pakistan International Airlines (89)
Pegasus Airlines (634)
Philippine Airlines (3,856)
Porter Airlines (469)
Qantas Airways (8,701)
Royal Brunei Airlines (1,068)
RyanAir (1,302)
Saga Airlines (192)
SAS Scandinavian Airlines (4,609)
Saudi Arabian Airlines (2,704)
SEEAIR (517)
Singapore Airlines (30,589)
Skyservice Airlines (147)

South East Asian Airlines (518)
Southwest Airlines (67,965)
Spirit Airlines (283)
Sri Lankan Airlines (740)
Tap Portugal (870)
Thai Airways (2,865)
Thomas Cook (8,223)
Tiger Airways (180)
Turkish Airlines (7,074)
Turkmenistan Airlines (254)
Ukraine International Airlines (59)
United Airlines (8,817)
USA300 (220)
V Australia (944)
Vietnam Airlines (312)
Virgin America (25,259)
Virgin Blue (973)
Virgin Atlantic (17,376)
VLm Airlines (289)
Vuelin Airlines (495)
WestJet Airlines (4,961)
Wizz Air (636)