The U.S. airline oligopoly’s use of social media to communicate sustainability initiatives.

The U.S. airline industry is arguably an oligopoly consisting of four airlines:  American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. This paper investigates the social media channels used by participants of this oligopoly to communicate their environmental sustainability efforts. A qualitative content analysis of current social media marketing by each airline in communicating sustainability initiatives was undertaken.   The social media marketing content analysis included four popular social network sites: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  Environmental sustainability initiatives selected for examination were carbon offset programs, fuel efficiency, recycling, and alternative energy.