The survey, conducted among 29 social-savvy airlines including KLM and American Airlines, looks at budget, staffing, challenges and return on investment (ROI).

A key trend from the study shows the increasing importance of customer service on social media. About 85% of the airlines surveyed have social media staff working across departments, with customer service emerging as the most common cross-functional role, ahead of marketing and corporate communications.

One of the biggest challenge is the insufficient allocation of resources to social media. Almost 65% of the airlines facing this problem are already investing more than 90 man hours a month into social media. The budgets for social media vary from a few thousand dollars to more than a million dollars.

“Many airlines are still learning social media on the fly, and adapting to a dynamic landscape,” said Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying (pictured left).

In spite of the challenges over 70% of the airlines surveyed plan to increase their social media budget next year. This is an almost two-fold increase compared to a year ago, when only 40% of the airlines surveyed planned to expand their social media teams.

Other key findings:

• • Many airlines have mapped the value of social media performance to business goals, the top three being brand engagement, customer service and revenue.
• • Over 70% of the airlines surveyed plan to increase their social media budget next year. This is almost a two-fold increase compared to a year ago when only 40% of the airlines surveyed planned to expand their social media teams.

Click here for detailed report.