Crisis Management Case Study based around Gander International Airport on September 11, 2001. Group work assignment. Classroom Assignment.

1. Operation
Yellow
Ribbon
Strategy Case Study

2. Case Layout
•Discussion Image (Gander Airport, Sept 11, 2001)
•Crisis Case Overview
•Crisis Management Team Assignment
•**In Class Group Work**
•Common Mistakes/Discussion Topics
•Task Review & Learning Outcomes

3. Gander International Airport

4. September 11, 10am
What is Gander:
• Gander International Airport
• first North American airport on the trans-Atlantic route
• “Trans-Atlantic Refuelling Stop”
• Small location for emergency use.
What happened on 9/11:
• US Airspace indefinitely closed.
• Took in 39 wide-body aircraft, mostly heading for U.S. destinations.
• The total number of passengers and crew accommodated at Gander was about
7,600.
• The total population of Gander is fewer than 7,000 people (approx 1800 under the
age of 12)
Comment:
• Effort in accommodating all of these unexpected guests was monumental.
• Gander Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that there were more people at the
airport than in the town.

5. Crisis Management
Team
• Your group is in charge of formulating and
implementing an immediate (3hr), short (24hr) and
medium term strategy (72hr).
• There are 4 hotels (capacity approx 800)
• There are 3 schools (capacity 2000)
• There is one main shopping mall. •Gander is isolated, so no
immediate help is coming, or can
be called for.
•Isolated until US Airspace opens
again
•Gander to Quebec is an 18hr
journey by road.
What do you do?

6. Group Work
• In groups, as the Mayor of Gander and Head of
the Crisis Management team you must put in
place plans for dealing with the influx of people.
• Areas of consideration include but should not be
limited to:
– Processing of passengers off and on to planes
– Accommodation
– Health & Safety
– Food and Water.
– Communication & Information
– Resource Organisation (Volunteers, Public
Workers)

7. Considerations
•This is an “external event”
• `you cant change, only react’
•Crisis Management Teams should have distance /
objectivity and not allow emotion to cloud their
judgement.
•Teams should strive to have a clear policy on
leadership/management
•Strategy for unknown
•Action (step by step... Consequences)
•Evaluation / follow up / review
•All actions have issues/consequences that must be
considered… for example ‘we’ll put everyone in the
schools (action), but all the schools are full of children
at 10am (issue/consequence).

8. Management Style/Design
•Management Style: Autocratic/Democratic/Laissez-
Faire.
•Group think per topic, or individual assigned to different
areas?
•One manager delegating roles? Or standardised
classroom group approach?
•Why have you designed your team the way you have?

9. Processing passengers
•Gander is a small airport, familiar with deplaning one
plane at a time. Consider this, should you decided to
deplane, ID, and document every passenger, and you
manage to do it at an impressive speed of one
passenger per minute, that is 7,600 minutes, or
126hrs, or just over 5 days. This is not practical.
•How will you empty the planes, and record/monitor all
passengers at a time of heightened security fears?

10. Accommodation
•“Put people in hotels!!” – but what about the people
already in the hotels? Existing customers?
•“Put people in the schools!” – but it’s a normal school day
at 10am, the schools are full of children. What’s your plan for
the children?
•Transport – how are you getting 7,600 people around the
island?
•“Women and children” – not families and the elderly?
•There is often an effort from students to accommodate
people in luxury. This is a CRISIS. 2/3 families per hotel
room is a legitimate answer. Makeshift beds in a school
gymnasium is a legitimate answer

11. Health and Safety
•Interestingly, students seem very concerned with
health and safety. What are the reasons for this?
Often, students forget that everyone on the flights has
willingly embarked on a Trans-Atlantic Flight.

12. Food & Water
•For such a small island, feeding an effective 100%
increase in population is very challenging. Note that
the island can no longer be accessed by air, so
additional supplies will not be forthcoming. How can
you deal with this.
•In the TV Movie of this event (Diverted, 2009) there is
a very good scene when the crisis is being announced
via public radio, of the volunteerism and goodwill
shown by the people of Gander to make sandwiches,
hot meals, soup, etc.

13. Communication
•Communication and access to information is key. At times of
uncertainty people crave information. How will you
communicate to volunteers? To passengers?
•Do you inform passengers of events in New York? Why/why
not?
•How often do you grant access to information? An important
decision taken in the real life event was to issue an address
via TV & Radio every hour, on the hour with information
updates, even if the update was “There are no new updates
at this time.” Why was this important?
•One mistake that is common is the assumption that all
passengers speak English, in one instance, a plane from the
Middle East had no English speaking passengers – how do
you deal with this?

14. Common ‘Mistakes’
•“Send people by boat to mainland”
•Why might this be a problem?
•Where do you send them? Who pays?
•How do you monitor/record this?
•Who gets to go, who stays?
•Quebec 18hrs away by car.
•“Contact hotels regarding rooms”
•This is too broad, and lacks conviction.
•“Inform hotels that they have been temporarily designated as
shelters for 72 hours, you apologise for any inconvenience and
would appreciate all assistance.”
•“get volunteers to do…”
•Who are these volunteers? How are they organised? Over a
72 hour period if they ALL work at the start, presumably they’ll
be tired very soon. Time delegation is important

15. Learning Outcomes
•In times of crisis COMMUNICATION is key.
•Time limits should be placed on groups to replicate
time pressures associated with crisis management.
•For variety, fictitious ‘FACTS’ can be introduced
midway through group work to see how groups react,
for example: 1) Airspace has re-opened after all
passengers have been deplaned. 2) An additional 10
planes will arrive in 3hrs time, carrying 2,000
passengers.
•One key issue is the groups management style
selection. For a crisis of this nature there is a strong
case for an autocratic leadership style.

16. The Unpopular Decision?
•An interesting discussion topic is whether there is merit to NOT
deplaning the passengers, rather keeping them all on board the planes
indefinitely.
•While this would less than enjoyable for the passengers, it may make
sense from a crisis operation perspective.
•The airplanes become glorified hotels.
•Communication is made easier.
•There is no need to record/document passengers.
•The town/island remains undisrupted.
•There is likely a decent quantity of food on board the planes.
•Schools and hotels are unaffected.
•Resources can be brought to one focal point, the airport.
•If you opt for this approach, what if airspace remains closed
longer than 72 hours? Remember, at the outset, you do not know
how long this crisis will last.

17. Useful Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diverted
Film about the Operation Yellow Ribbon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yellow_Ribbon
Wikipedia Article
http://www.ganderairport.com/911.htm
Gander Airport Website
http://transgriot.blogspot.ie/2011/09/operation-yellow-
ribbon-thank-you.html
Synopsis and President Barack Obama thanks
Gander 10 years on.

18. case study author: Jeff Taylor
email: jeff@jefftaylor.ie
website: www.jefftaylor.ie
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeff-taylor/41/993/635
contact via email for guest lectures and academic seminars
some facts and figures within the case have been altered for illustrative purposes