COVID-19 and social media communication strategies: A comparative study of the effectiveness of Facebook posts during the lockdown and the "new normal" in the airline industry.

This comparative study analyses the effectiveness of the communications delivered via Facebook by two Spanish airlines, Iberia and Air Europa. Using various indicators, the publications posted by the two Spanish airline companies (Iberia and AirEuropa) on this social media site during the COVID-19 pandemic are examined using two time-frames, namely the "strict lockdown" (between March 14th and June 21st, 2020) and the "new normal" (between June 22nd and September 30th). In this study we examined a total of 39 Iberia's and 49 AirEuropa's posts for the former period and 49 Iberia's and 89 AirEuropa's posts for the latter one.