SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN AIRLINE INDUSTRY: A COMPARISON BETWEEN TURKISH FOUNDED AIRLINES

Abstract

The way of conducting business activities has considerably changed over the past few years. Both manufacturing and service sector have implemented new approaches in meeting organizational goals therefore performance. Service quality and customer satisfaction are two terms often used in marketing to assess how well customers’ expectations are met. Turkish airline industry has witnessed series of changes since the deregulation law was enacted whereas globally or domestically (Tamer Çetin, 2016). Therefore, with the highly competitive market place that entails that of the country’ domestic sector, companies are always striving to find adequate strategies to attract and retain the highest number of customers. Four airline companies namely: Atlas Global, Onurair, Pegasus and Turkish Airlines were selected to efficiently evaluate this critical issue. In line with that, the dimensions of SERVQUAL method were chosen to highlight the satisfaction factor on a passenger’s point of view; in other words, perceived performance. The aim of this research paper is to identify through comparison the company that best and accurately implement service quality dimensions to reach the most suitable satisfaction factor which highly impact on the outcome and business growth. Reasons being of this purpose is to draw a correlation between all dimensions of quality and others like demographic. A survey was therefore conducted on potential passengers of the above mentioned airline companies living in Istanbul; questionnaires were distributed among respondents and evaluated using a quantitative approach. Results of the analysis were used to make conclusions and draw inferential questions