Ethical crisis communication and distributed accountability in algorithmically managed transport systems: a normative governance framework

Purpose This study aims to develop a normative ethical framework for crisis communication and accountability in algorithmically managed transportation systems. It examines how transparency, responsibility, justice and care should be ethically operationalized when crises arise from complex socio-technical coordination rather than from isolated human error. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a structured narrative synthesis (2020–2025) across crisis communication ethics, information ethics, algorithmic governance and transport regulation to construct a multi-layered normative framework, which is subsequently used to interpret a public aviation disruption linked to revised Flight Duty Time Limitation regulations in India as a theory illustrating a vignette rather than an empirical test case. Findings Four systemic ethical failures are identified: opacity in algorithmic crisis communication, diffusion of accountability across design-time and runtime actors, unjust distribution of disruption-related burdens and remedies and insufficient care for vulnerable passengers. These are translated into operational governance requirements, including impact assessments, traceability, fairness audits and care-sensitive communication architectures. Research limitations/implications As a conceptual study supported by a public vignette, the framework does not offer empirical generalization and requires validation across transport modes and institutional contexts. Practical implications The framework provides regulators, transport operators and technology vendors with actionable guidance for designing enforceable crisis communication, accountability structures and passenger protection mechanisms under algorithmic coordination. Social implications This study highlights how algorithmic crisis coordination can amplify social vulnerability, exclusion and public distrust, particularly affecting elderly, disabled, medically dependent and digitally marginalized passengers. Originality/value This study does not merely assemble existing ethical principles; it reconfigures transparency, accountability, justice and care into a crisis-specific governance architecture that links design-time and runtime accountability, channel-level crisis communication requirements and enforceable institutional mechanisms for algorithmically managed transport systems.