2. International Journal of Management
A sample of 200 respondents were selected based on convenience sampling and the
questionnaire was distributed to them. The Samples are those using the Coimbatore
Airport. The researches felt that the users of the Coimbatore Airport would not only be
those from Coimbatore but from across the country and hence there was not a need to go
the various cities per se. The questionnaire designed was the survey instrument. The
questionnaire comprised of 12 sections constituting the various dimension of Service
Quality among the Indian Airline service providers. From the data analysis, it was clear
that the Price, Politeness of crew members, Consistency between communication and
experience, Check in of luggage and convenience of flight- timings are the top five
factors of service quality as perceived by the passengers. It was inferred that the
passenger perceives service quality as a combination of the three dimensions namely
physical, interaction and corporate and all the three dimensions have to be given equal
priority by the Indian Airline service providers.
Key words: Airlines, Service Quality, Service providers, passenger.
1.0 Introduction
Few inventions have changed how people live and experience the world as much
as the invention of the airplane. The airline industry exists in an intensely competitive
market. In recent years, there has been an industry-wide shakedown, which will have far-
reaching effects on the industry's trend towards expanding domestic and international
services. In the past, the airline industry was at least partly government owned. This is
still true in many countries. Almost all airlines have shown losses in the recent past and
things don’t look to improve unless some revolutionary changes are initiated by the
government as well as by the airlines owners. Even as the slowdown in the industry and
rising losses have made equity investment currently impossible, Indian carriers’ cash flow
has been maintained through large scale loans from financial institutions. This has made
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the Indian Airline service providers as some of the most over leveraged companies in the
world.
India has a well-developed and large civil aviation network. There are 122 airports
in the country, controlled by the Airports Authority of India, of which 11 are international
airports. The air services of the country were liberalised in 1994 through a move towards
an open-skies policy of the Government. Civil aviation sector in India has been badly hit
in recent times by high Aviation Turbine Fuel prices which made the ticket prices soar
leading to a fall in demand.
The Indian Airline market is characterised as a hugely potential and under
penetrated market. The total passenger market in India is around 50 million. The
passenger trip per annum of India is 0.05, while the same for US is 2.02. The above figure
explains the under penetration of the Indian Airlines market. The Indian Domestic market
is forecasted to grow at 12 % annually. IATA projects the growth of the Indian Airline
market at 8.8 % annually for the next 10 years. The Indian Government has introduced
the open sky policy. The Government has introduced deregulations in various spheres of
the Aviation Industry. A major change has been the focus of the Government in bringing
investments in the industry. FDI limits have been increased to 49 % in airlines and even
up to 100 % in airports.
The socio – cultural factors are also favourable for Indian airline Industry.
India has a huge growing middle class, which aspires to travel by air. There is increase
the leisure travel segment within the country. The foreign tourist arrival in India has been
steadily increasing. The technological advancements and privatisation of green field
airports are adding to the increasing numbers of passengers. Also, the low cost carriers
are playing a vital role increasing the market. The business model of low cost carriers are
proving to be successful and thereby increasing the Airline market. Currently, there is a
trend of consolidation in the Airline industry.
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Even as the slowdown in the industry and rising losses have made equity
investment currently impossible, Indian carriers’ cash flow has been maintained through
large scale loans from financial institutions.
Service quality has received a great deal of attention from both academicians and
practitioners. In the services marketing literature service quality is defined as the overall
assessment of a service by the customers. Lehtinen (1982) conceptualized service quality
as a three dimensional construct viz. "physical", "interactive" and "corporate." Physical
quality is the quality dimension which originates from the physical elements of service
like physical product and physical support. Interactive quality indicates the interaction
between the customer and the service organization. And corporate quality is symbolic in
nature and indicates the perception of customers about the image of the organization. The
firm's ability to create and sustain competitive advantage depends upon the high level of
service quality provided by the service provider. They defined perceived service quality
as the extent to which a firm serves the needs of its customers successfully.
Given the context of huge losses faced by Indian Airline services, it is imperative
for us to study the service quality levels of these companies. The study explores the
various constructs that are critical to service quality among the Indian Airline service
providers as perceived by the Passengers.
2.0 Review of Literature
2.1 Service Quality: Like price, quality is a critical dimension of a firm’s competitive
strategy (Porter, 1980). Service quality has received a great deal of attention from both
academicians and practitioners. In the services marketing literature service quality is
defined as the overall assessment of a service by the customers. Parasuraman et al.
defined perceived service quality as "global judgment, or attitude, relating to the
superiority of the service". Parasuraman et al. (1985) conceptualized service quality as
perceptions resulting from the comparison of customer expectations and actual service
performance.
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One of the most accepted facts is that service quality in most cases depends on a number
of factors or aspects (Berry, Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 1985; Johnston and Lyth, 1991;
Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff, 1978; Fitzgerald, Johnston, Brignalls, Silvestro and Voss,
1991; Collier, 1991; Juran, Gryna, Frank and Bingham, 1988. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and
Berry (1985) identified ten determinants: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access,
courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding/knowing the consumer, and
tangibles (Berry, Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 1985). Later these were reduced to five:
tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance (Parsuraman, Zeithaml and
Berry, 1988). Grönroos (1988) added a sixth dimension recovery to these five. This refers
to having a clear-cut strategy for removing the unwanted elements of service offer to the
satisfaction of the consumer.
All have not universally accepted these dimensions. Various researchers have
reported that their research do not support these dimensions. Finn and Lamb (1991)
researching on retailing negated the Parasuraman et al.’s claim that their instrument is
applicable to a wide range of services. They concluded that the five dimensions are
insufficient to measure service quality in the retail setting. Similarly, Cronin and Taylor
(1992), researching for services like banks, dry-cleaning, etc. found little support for
Berry et al.’s (1985) five dimensions. They did not have any research sample that
confirmed Parasuraman’s five dimensional construct of service quality. Silvestro and
Johnston (1989) and Fitzgerald et al. (1991) in their studies enlarged Parasuraman et al.’s
efforts by redefining some of the previous dimensions and enlarging this list to as many
as 15 factors. They caution against relying exclusively on the market (or consumers) to
determine all the key attributes of service quality. Thus, they maintain that due attention
to the specific tasks of operations is also desirable. Among others, Collier (1991)
identifies the following service quality attributes: accuracy, volume and activity,
convenience, time-oriented responsiveness, reliability, professionalism and competence,
friendliness and consumer empathy, atmosphere and aesthetics, security and safety,
productivity and efficiency, overall market and performance indicators, technology, and
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price/value/cost/relationships. Earlier, Juran et. al. (1988) identified three aspects of
services that should be measured: timeliness, consumer well being, and continuity of
services. Armistead (1990) classified the service dimensions as ‘soft’ and ‘firm’. The
style (attitude of staff, accessibility of staff, and ambience), steering (the degree to which
customers feel in control of their own destiny) and safety (trust, security and
confidentiality) are the soft dimensions whereas; timeliness, consumer well being, and
continuity of services. Armistead (1990) classified the service dimensions as ‘soft’ and
‘firm’. The style (attitude of staff, accessibility of staff, and ambience),
steering (the degree to which customers feel in control of their own destiny) and safety
(trust, security and confidentiality) are the soft dimensions whereas; time (availability,
responsiveness and waiting), fault freeness (in physical good, intangible activities and
information) and flexibility (recovery, customization and augmented services) are the
‘firm’ dimensions.
They further pointed out that service quality perceptions are not solely the
outcomes of service but it also involves the evaluation of the service delivery process by
the customers. Lehtinen (1982) conceptualized service quality as a three dimensional
construct viz. "physical", "interactive" and "corporate." Physical quality is the quality
dimension which originates from the physical elements of service like physical product
and physical support. Interactive quality indicates the interaction between the customer
and the service organization. And corporate quality is symbolic in nature and indicates
the perception of customers about the image of the organization. Garvin (1988) provided
a comprehensive definition of service quality comprising of the attributes viz.
performance, features, conformance, reliability, durability, aesthetics, serviceability and
customers' perceived quality. Asubonteng et al. (1996; p.64) defined service quality as
"the difference between the customers' expectations for service performance prior to the
service encounter and their perceptions of the service received." Yoo and Park (2007)
state that the firm's ability to create and sustain competitive advantage depends upon the
high level of service quality provided by the service provider. They defined perceived
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service quality as the extent to which a firm serves the needs of its customers
successfully. Again, Dabholkar et al. (2000) considered service quality as a set of
different sub-dimensions like reliability and responsiveness which form the antecedents
to customer satisfaction.
SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al. 1988) emerged as an instrument to measure
service quality consisting of the five dimensions of service quality viz. reliability,
tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. But it had its own share of criticisms
because it was based on the difference between the expectations and performance. Its
reliability and validity has been questioned by many researchers (Carman 1990; Cronin
and Taylor 1992; Strandvik and Lijander 1994; Babakaus and Boiler 1992). Thus,
service quality is conceptualized both as a one dimensional and a multidimensional
construct in the literature. Furthermore, there is strong evidence in the literature for
service quality being an antecedent of customer satisfaction.
2.2 Passenger satisfaction and service quality in Airline Services
Matrin Dresner and Kefeng Xu ( 1995 ) of University of Maryland have studied the
relationship between customer service, customer satisfaction and corporate performance
in services sector. This study examines the effect of three customer service variables on
customer satisfaction and in turn on profitability for U.S. airlines, a service sector
industry. The airline industry was chosen for the study because of the availability of an
excellent stream of Government-collected data on customer service, customer
satisfaction, and corporate performance. Air transportation data are used to test the
significance of both links in the customer service to customer satisfaction and to
corporate performance relationship. In addition, the empirical results from the study are
used to quantify the effect of increasing customer service levels on the level of customer
satisfaction and on profitability in the airline industry.
With the growth of the Airline services around the world, a significant body of
literature has emerged over the past several years. Diah Natalisa and Budiarto Subroto
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have studied the effects of management commitment on service quality to Increase
customer satisfaction of domestic Airlines in Indonesia. The results showed that a
majority of the customers were satisfied with the services provided. The five dimensions
of service quality positively affected the customers’ level of confidence and among
those dimensions; assurance has the strongest effect on the level of customers’
satisfaction. The customers level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction were not differentiated
by price and personal variables, but rather by other variables like 1) the customer
perception of service quality , 2) the appropriation between the service quality and the
external communication, and 3) the situational variable. The situational variable proved to
be the differentiating variable in the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for business
segment customers.
Claire Dennett, Elizabeth M Inseon, Grahaivi J Stone and Mark Colgate studied
the role of differentiation in increasing satisfaction of pre-bookable services in the
chartered Airline Industry. Their focus was to assess the impact of introduction of an
innovation in the charter airline industry. In particular they analysed whether customers'
perceptions of satisfaction and behavioural intentions in terms of repurchase are
significantly higher amongst those consumers who availed themselves of newly
introduced pre-bookable chartered airline services.. The findings highlight that although
this innovation can increase satisfaction and repurchase intentions its potential has not
been maximised.
3.0 Research Methodology
The Research design adopted for the survey was Descriptive research as the
researcher aims to study the below mentioned objectives.
3.1 Objective
The following research objectives are postulated:
1) To determine the significant factors that contribute towards service quality as
perceived by the passengers
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2) To provide suitable recommendations to the Airline service providers based on
the factors of service quality identified.
3.2 Sampling Procedure
A sample of 200 respondents were selected based on convenience sampling and
the questionnaire distributed to them. The Samples are those using the Coimbatore
Airport. The researches felt that the users of the Coimbatore Airport would not only be
those from Coimbatore but from across the country and hence there was not a need to go
the various cities per se.
3.3 Research instrument
The questionnaire designed was the survey instrument. The questionnaire was
comprised of 12 sections namely Flight Timings, Flight Delay, Flight Connection,
Frequent flyer programme, Cabin baggage, Baggage, Crew members, Food, Seating
arrangement, Booking, Pre-flight and Miscellaneous constituting the various dimension
of Service Quality among the Indian Airline service providers. Statements related to all
the factors identified are used to develop a Likert scale, asking respondents to rate the
factors on a five point scale consisting of Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree,
Strongly Disagree.
The various factors identified were as follows
Table 1.0 Various service quality factors identified
S. No Factors
I Flight timings
1 Convenience of timings
2 On time take off
3 On time landing
II Flight Delay
4 providing food
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5 Providing rooms / accommodation
6 Providing transportation
7 Providing message at the airport regarding delay
III Flight connection
8 Timings
9 Availability of timings
10 Baggage
11 Guidance of airline staff at interchange point
IV Frequent flyer programme
12 Card
13 Implementation
14 Tracking
15 Communication
16 Reimbursement
V Cabin baggage
17 Missing
18 Tracking
VI Baggage
19 check in
20 Misplaced
21 How to track
VII Crew members
22 Approach
23 Serving
24 Vernacular language
25 Guiding to seat
26 Instruction
27 Pilot communication regarding flight take off
28 Pilot communication regarding regarding
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environment details
VIII Seating arrangement
29 Seat leg room
30 Seating arrangement
31 Size of seat
32 Preflight Wheel chair
33 Tele check in
IX Food
34 Type of food
35 How the food is served
36 Taste of the food
37 Packaging of the food
38 Time of delivery of food
39 Non delivery of food
40 Price of food
X Booking
41 Price
42 Ease of booking
43 Cancellation of flight
44 Website design
45 Ticket cancellation methods
XI Pre flight
46 Arrangement at the Airport
47 Guidance at the airport
48 Check-in facilities
XII Miscellaneous
49 Complimentary items
50 Image of the airline
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51 Consistency in communication
52 Airline magazine
53 Advertising within the airline
3.4 Reliability of the research instrument
The reliability of the various factors is tested using the Cronbach Alpha method of
validity. Reliability test was conducted for determining the proportion of systematic
variation in a scale that assesses reliability. This is done by determining the association
between scores obtained from different administrations of scale. If the association is high,
the scale yields consistent results and therefore reliable (Malhotra 1999). In this survey,
Cronbach Alpha was used to test the internal consistency for all items under respective
variables. The table shows that all factors in the variables form a single strongly
consistent and conceptual construct. The value recorded for alpha for all four variables
were under the acceptable range α = 0.7 (Nunnally 1978).
Table 2.0 Cronbach Alpha values for each factor
S. No Factors No of Cronbach
statements Alpha
I Flight timings 3 0.856
II Flight Delay 4 0.826
III Flight connection 4 0.828
IV Frequent flyer 5 0.750
programme
V Cabin baggage 2 0.846
VI Baggage 3 0.896
VII Crew members 6 0.788
VIII Seating arrangement 5 0.952
IX Food 7 0.948
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X Booking 5 0.878
XI Pre flight 3 0.786
XII Miscellaneous 5 0.745
3.5 Data Analysis
The scores from the Likert scale for various factors are calculated. The below table
gives details of the mean score and the standard deviation for the various service quality
factors.
Table 3.0 Factors with the highest mean scores from the Likert Scale
S. Factors Mean Standard
No Deviation
1 Convenience of flight timings 4.56 1.72
2 On time take off of flights 4.10 1.2
3 On time landing of flights 3.80 0.8
4 providing food during flight delays 3.40 1.3
5 Providing rooms / accommodation during 3.50 1.4
flight delays
6 Guidance of airline staff at interchange point 4.24 1.5
during flight connection
7 Communication regarding the frequent flyer 3.70 0.9
programme
8 check in of luggage 4.60 1.3
9 Handling of misplaced luggage 3.84 1.4
10 Politeness of the crew members 4.70 1.3
11 Time of delivery of food 3.90 1.9
12 Price 4.78 0.9
13 Ease of booking through the company website 4.0 1.3
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14 Check-in facilities 4.2 1.9
15 Image of the airline 4.4 0.8
16 Consistency between communication and 4.64 1.9
experience
3.4 Findings
The research identifies the factors contributing to service quality as perceived by
the customers of Indian Airline service providers. The ranking of the service quality
factors as perceived by the passengers have been identified as follows
Table 4.0 Ranking of service quality factors as perceived by passengers
Ranks Factors
I Price
II Politeness of the crew members
III Consistency between communication and
experience
IV check in of luggage
V Convenience of flight timings
VI Image of the airline
VII Guidance of airline staff at interchange point
during flight connection
VIII Check-in facilities
IX On time take off of flights
X Ease of booking through the company
website
XI Time of delivery of food
XII Handling of misplaced luggage
XIII On time landing of flights
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XIV Communication regarding the frequent flyer
programme
XV Providing rooms / accommodation during
flight delays
XVI providing food during flight delays
From the above ranking, it is clear that the Price, Politeness of crew members,
Consistency between communication and experience, Check in of luggage and
convenience of flight- timings are the top five factors of service quality as perceived by
the passengers. It is clear from the above findings that the passenger perceives service
quality as a combination of the three dimensions namely physical, interaction and
corporate and all the three dimensions have to be given equal priority by the Indian
Airline service providers.
4.0 Conclusions
The research has identified the key factors contributing to service quality as
perceived by the passengers. It is now up to the Indian Airline service providers to
concentrate on these key factors of service quality so as to have an enhanced passenger
satisfaction. Enhanced passenger satisfaction will result in loyalty, willingness to pay a
premium and willingness to recommend the service to others. These surely will result in
better financial performance for the airlines.
5.0 Future scope and limitation
This research has provided insights into various factors that customers consider
important while evaluating the Service Quality of Indian Airline service providers.
However it does have certain limitations, which are discussed below.
The sample size is small due to time and cost constraints, which may not be
suitable to conclude the generalization of this research survey. The data is proposed to be
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collected from the customers using the Coimbatore Airport. The research considers the
customers as a homogenous group, which may not be the case. Hence there is a scope for
further research based on segmenting of the customers. Further study can explore the
factors contributing to service quality as perceived by the airline companies. The same
can be compared with the factors as perceived by the customers. This can be used to
identify the service gap, if any
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