Campbell Wilson stood in a gray suit before a camera last week to read a carefully worded statement about the plane operated by Air India, the company he leads, that had crashed hours earlier in Ahmedabad, India, with 242 people aboard.

His remarks immediately drew criticism. Social media users said he appeared cold and lacking in empathy.

Soon after, another critique emerged: Much of Wilson’s speech was identical to one given five months earlier by Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, after a crash in Washington.

The similarities in the two statements are striking. Karthik Srinivasan, a communications consultant in Bengaluru, posted transcripts on social media showing that many of Campbell’s words had exact parallels in Isom’s.

“First and most importantly, I’d like to express our deep sorrow about these events”, Isom said in the video published on January 29. On June 12, Wilson began: “First and most importantly, I would like to express our deep sorrow about this event.”

“This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines,” Isom continued. Wilson said: “This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India.”

Isom said, “I know that there are many questions, and at this early stage, I’ll not be able to answer all of them. But I do want to share the information I have at this time.” Wilson said exactly the same thing, except he didn’t say “early”, and in one instance he used “we” instead of “I”.

“Anything we can do now, we’re doing,” they promised. Both said their companies had “set up a special help line”, would “continue to share accurate and timely information as soon as we can” and were “working around the clock” to support “passengers, crew and their families”.

Many who responded to Srinivasan’s post expressed anger at the airline. The outcry over the remarks has added to the challenges facing Air India as investigators work to understand what caused its London-bound jet to crash moments after takeoff, killing all but one person on board and dozens on the ground.

“People found it insensitive because it just doesn’t make sense based on common sense to plagiarise a speech when you’re supposed to showcase empathy,” Srinivasan said. Public relations specialists said that it was common to see similar structures in statements from companies dealing with crises. But they said it was surprising to see one copy another verbatim.

New York Times News Service