Passengers on airberlin, the airline with a heart, are also at the heart of communication in the social web. During the ITB professional visitor days from 7th to 9th March, the airline will be updating live via YouTube video reports. Fans can direct their questions to social media reporter Michael Weinberger at facebook.com/airberlin. The questions will be answered the following day in YouTube videos live from the ITB. At the end of each video, users will be asked to answer a question as part of a prize giveaway offering three chances (Wednesday through Friday) to win two tickets for the Sunday exhibition. The social media reporter will also answer all questions sent via the hashtag #airberlin_ITB on Twitter.

Germany's second largest airline has been active in the social web since 2009 and operates multiple channels. One focal point is the official fan page at facebook.com/airberlin. There, within the last year alone, airberlin recorded fan growth of 290% and now has over 84,000 fans. In December 2011, the scope of the fan page within the largest network amounted to 900,000 users. The primary focus is interaction with airberlin passengers. The object of the fan page is to inform all interested parties about news concerning airberlin and the field of aviation. Contests are held regularly and fans can get a behind-the-scenes peek at the airline through photos, videos and background reports, thus making the airberlin brand more vivid.

The number of followers on both Twitter channels (German and English) is also growing steadily. This medium is used by airberlin primarily for the distribution of news about the company. Followers can also use the channels to make contact with airberlin. Thus, simple service and contact enquiries are answered quickly and efficiently by means of the 140 characters allowed on Twitter. Multimedia content is made available to users on the airberlin.com-YouTube channel. During the 2011/2012 Christmas campaign, an original Christmas song was uploaded here and users had the ability to follow Santa Claus through Europe on the search for his sleigh. Last year, the channel reached over 480,000 video views.

Through the Xing and LinkedIn business networks, airberlin mainly informs business travellers about topbonus frequent flyer program news and business points news. The network is also used to recruit new employees. The social web has also been shown to be a useful communication tool in the context of crisis communication e.g. during strikes. Above all, passengers can be promptly informed about restrictions and updates via Facebook and Twitter.

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