Customer Service Factors In Aviation Industry: A Case Study Of British Airways

Pre-Board Services

Question:

Describe about the impact of factors of service process on the satisfaction level of customers in the aviation industry of British Airways?

The service industry is considered to be the major contributor towards the world economy. As there is a significant rise in the competition in this segment, the market players are facing huge challenges related to the service quality, which actually satisfies the customers. According to the opinion of Luo & Homburg (2007; p.135), the organization that have a high quality services for the customers in the market, actually, enjoys high success rate in the industry compared to their competitors.

Thus, the current research focuses on understanding the customer service factors of aviation industry, specifically considering the British Airways. The rationale behind this current study is to understand the impact of service factors on the satisfaction level of the customers. Understanding the service factors actually helps in determining the success of the organization. In the last few decades, British Airways has successfully been contributing more than £10billion towards the economy of UK. Thus this report would discuss what are the factors that the British Airways have been utilizing to deliver their best to the customers?

The current study aims at understanding the impact of the factors of service process on the satisfaction level of the customers in the aviation industry. The study considers the case study of British Airways.

An association that works in the airline industry essentially organizes all customer service process factors at the hoisted level with the points of accomplishing successful consumer satisfaction. It is reality that the level of consumer satisfaction straightforwardly investigates the development of the business over the time allotment. In this way the preparatory endeavors of this examination work are assess all the customer service process factors considering the detailed analysis of British Airways (Gremler, Gwinner & Brown, 2001, p 50). It is discernible that British Airways has created it’s a high brand image in the aviation industry, which bless with raised level of administrations towards the client on a reliable premise. Subsequently, surveying the customer service process factors of the predicted association would support to measure the relative effects of them on the level of consumer satisfaction.

The hypothesis of the study helps to understand the relationship between the service factors and the customer satisfaction level. Thus the following hypothesis will be tested:

Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no positive impact of customer service factors on the satisfaction level of the customers in British Airways.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is a positive impact of customer service factors on the satisfaction level of the customers in British Airways.

In order to understand the customer service factors of aviation industry, it is very important to understand the three service segments of Airlines like British Airways, one is the pre-board services, then secondly, it is the on-board services and thirdly, it is the post-arrival services. All these three factors add potentiality to the services of aviation industry. These three factors actually help to fulfill the gap available in the services of aviation industry and also attain high satisfaction level of the customers (Oyewole, 2002).

On-Board Services

Further, under these three segments there are wide variety of services like, for instance, the pre-board services include the ticket booking services, the process of check-in, services at airport, pre-flight services and also departure services are some of the factors that influences the pre-board services. Similarly, there are wide varieties of services under the category of on-board services and also post-arrival services (Chen, Wang, Cheng & Kuntjara, 2008).

1. Pre-Board Services:

a. Booking Tickets: This is the most important service of airline industries. This process is not just limited towards the purchasing of tickets; however, it is also related to delivering the relevant information to the potential users before buying the tickets. Further, at the time of booking tickets there exists certain aspect that plays important roles. Also the accuracy of data and also speed of the booking process plays an important role. These are some of the service factors that influence the satisfaction level of the customers.

b. Pre-Flight Services: While discussing the pre-flight services, the main things that a customer looks in to are the ease of access to the pre-flight services, further the parking facilities available in the airport and also the transportation modes and convenience to reach airport (Bejou & Palmer, 1998).  

c. Process of Check-In:

This is the section where the customer faces various issues. The customers in this service expects ease, accuracy and speed of the process of check-in. further, they also check for multiple check-in options that are available to them or not. These factors decide their satisfaction level.

d. Airport Services: This is also another important service of pre-board services. Here, in these services, the customers mainly look for various aspects like help from the flight service in-charges, the behavior and attitude of the employees in flight, the services available in the flights and also availability of necessary materials etc.

e. Departure Process: At the time of departure the customers mainly looks into the punctuality factor that is the arrival and departure of the flight. If the customer finds any delay, they expect the organization to inform the customers about the delay in advance.

2. On-Board Services:

The on-board services generally include the entertainment amenities, the quality of beverages and food provided, shopping facilities etc.

3. Post-Arrival Services:

This is an alternate critical perspective which to a great extent influences the level of fulfillment of the client. In this connection the viewpoint which clients are fundamentally searching for is the baggage delivery aspect. They are evaluating this specific perspective on the premise of accuracy and speed. In the meantime they are additionally searching for other travel related offices like lodging, travel related protection and so on. At long last, they are likewise searching for any rebates gave by the carriers in the event that they acknowledge all such administrations (Seyed Alireza Mosavi, 2012).

The following service factors have been summarized in the following table:

Customer service process factors	Discussion
Ticket Purchase	·         Availability of Information is easily ·         Speed, Accuracy and easy of ticket booking
Pre-flight services	·         Before flight services are easily available ·         The parking facilities and airport is located at convenient location
Check-in	·         Accuracy, ease and speed o check-in process ·          More than one-check in options are available
Airport services	·         Availability of comfortable waiting lounges ·         Highly standard and helpful personnel ·         The flight personnel are courteous ·         The airline is comfortable and clean ·         The necessary materials are readily available in the airline
Departure	·         The arrival and departure time of flight is always on time ·         At the time of delay, proper announcement with the necessary information is provided
On board services	·         Entertainment facilities are available in flight ·         The food and beverages provided by the airlines is of high quality ·         There are various on-board varieties in Airlines like shopping
Arrival	·         See departure
Post-arrival	·         Right and quick baggage delivery ·         There are various service partners like the car rental, travel agencies, hotel service delivery with the airlines ·         Discount coupons are offered to the customers availing for other services

Every dimensions discussed above have significance towards maintaining the quality, cutting costs and also manage the demand fluctuations and also the needs of the customers. The aviation industry is already started implementing various strategies that would help to meet these service factors for satisfying the customers. Even though the aviation industry had to face economic crisis, but the UK aviation industry had experienced 7.9% growth in the year 2011.

Post-Arrival Services

The researcher aims at evaluating the impact of service process factors on the satisfaction level of the customers in aviation industry emphasizing on the case of British Airways. Here, the researcher utilizes the five point Likert scale for data collection from the British Airways customers. The likert scale, “1” shows the very low association and the “5” shows the very high association. The data set contains 19 variables that are broadly subcategorized under three different segments of service, pre-board, on-board and post-arrival services (Kim, 2011). The sample size considered for this present study is 40. Microsoft Excel is being used to analyze the 40 data sets and both statistical and descriptive study is being executed.

The data set looks as mentioned below:

Options  (1 = low; 5 = high)	1	2	3	4	5
Ticket Purchase
Availability of Information is easily
Speed, Accuracy and easy of ticket booking
Pre-flight services
Before flight services are easily available
The parking facilities and airport is located at convenient location
Process of Check-in
Accuracy, ease and speed o check-in process
more than one-check in options are available
Services in Airport
Availability of comfortable waiting lounges
Highly standard and helpful personnel
The flight personnel are courteous
The airline is comfortable and clean
The necessary materials are readily available in the airline
Process of Departure
The arrival and departure time of flight is always on time
At the time of delay, proper announcement with the necessary information is provided
Service of On board
Entertainment facilities are available in flight
The food and beverages provided by the airlines is of high quality
There are various on-board varieties in Airlines like shopping
Post-arrival
Right and quick baggage delivery
There are various service partners like the car rental, travel agencies, hotel service delivery with the airlines
Discount coupons are offered to the customers availing for other services

Options  (1 = low; 5 = high)	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Min	Max
Ticket Purchase
Availability of Information is easily	40	2.55	1.13	1	5
Speed, Accuracy and easy of ticket booking	40	3.13	0.56	2	5
Pre-flight services
Before flight services are easily available	40	1.83	0.68	1	3
The parking facilities and airport is located at convenient location	40	4.10	0.67	3	5
Process of Check-in
Accuracy, ease and speed o check-in process	40	2.13	0.33	2	3
more than one-check in options are available	40	1.75	0.44	1	2
Services in Airport
Availability of comfortable waiting lounges	40	4.28	0.68	3	5
Highly standard and helpful personnel	40	3.08	0.80	2	5
The flight personnel are courteous	40	4.08	0.73	3	5
The airline is comfortable and clean	40	3.00	0.55	2	4
The necessary materials are readily available in the airline	40	3.48	0.75	2	4
Process of Departure
The arrival and departure time of flight is always on time	40	3.05	0.75	1	5
At the time of delay, proper announcement with the necessary information is provided	40	2.95	1.13	1	4
Service of On board
Entertainment facilities are available in flight	40	2.78	1.00	1	4
The food and beverages provided by the airlines is of high quality	40	2.60	0.84	1	5
There are various on-board varieties in Airlines like shopping	40	4.90	0.30	4	5
Post-arrival
Right and quick baggage delivery	40	2.43	1.03	1	4
There are various service partners like the car rental, travel agencies, hotel service delivery with the airlines	40	1.98	0.70	1	4
Discount coupons are offered to the customers availing for other services	40	3.40	0.87	1	4

Bin	Frequency
1.75	1
2.5375	4
3.325	7
4.1125	4
More	2

Here the descriptive statistics utilized as a part of the study are max value, min value, standard deviation which measures the dispersion and the mean that measure the central of  tendency.

It is confirm that descriptive statistics are utilized to survey the whole data set and in addition to set up the data set in a way that it supports the analyst to execute statistical and descriptive. Here the measure of central of tendency that is the mean demonstrates the average of the each of the variable utilized here. From the above table it is detectable that the variable “more than one-check in options availability “scores the least average score of 1.75, though the variable ” There are various on-board varieties in Airlines like shopping ” scores highest average score of 4.90.

From this descriptive study,  it is additionally perceptible that with the exception of ” There are various on-board varieties in Airlines like shopping “, there exists certain variables like ” Availability of comfortable waiting lounges “, ” The parking facilities and airport is located at convenient location” and ” The flight personnel are courteous ” are likewise critical variables in this study. The measure of scattering, extraordinarily the standard deviation as indicated in the above elucidating insights table additionally help these conclusion.

Regression analysis:

Regression Statistics
Multiple R	0.63
R Square	0.39
Adjusted R Square	0.34
Standard Error	0.54
Observations	40

ANOVA
	df	SS	MS	F	Significance F
Regression	3	6.94	2.31	7.81	0.00
Residual	36	10.66	0.30
Total	39	17.6

	Coefficients	Standard Error	t Stat	P-value	Lower 95%	Upper 95%	Lower 95.0%	Upper 95.0%
Intercept	2.83	1.48	1.92	0.06	-0.17	5.82	-0.17	5.82
Pre board services	0.33	0.38	0.87	0.39	-0.44	1.09	-0.44	1.09
On board services	-0.73	0.19	-3.86	0.00	-1.11	-0.34	-1.11	-0.34
Post arrival services	0.68	0.16	4.37	0.00	0.36	1.00	0.36	1.00

Here, the regression analysis is utilized as measurable test to affirm the hypothesis of the study. As per the regression analysis, “Multiple Regression Model” is utilized where, satisfaction level of the consumers is utilized as independent variable and all the other three service segments the post-arrival service, pre-board services and on-board services, are utilized as dependent variables (Josephat & Ismail, 2012).

Presently from the above regression analysis it is discernible that the estimation of R Square is 0.39. Since it the score is positive it can be said that services related to Pre-board, On-board services and Post-arrival services are absolutely connected with satisfaction level of customers.

Here, the equation of regression is as mentioned below:

Y=A + B x 1 + C x 2 + D x 3

Where, Y = Level of consumer satisfaction

A = 2.83

B = 0.33

C = – 0.73

D = 0.68

Hence, the equation of regression is

Consumer satisfaction level= 2.83 + 0.33 * (Pre board services) – 0.73 * (on board services) + 0.68 * (Post arrival services)

Further, since the F-value significance is 0.00038 which is less that 0.05, thus the null hypothesis is to be dismissed. That is it can be said that “Customer service process factors have positive effect on the satisfaction level of the customers in the aviation business, particularly in the event of British Airways.”

Conclusion And Recommendation

Consequently to conclude it can be said that in the airlines business especially focusing on the case of British Airways, the satisfaction level of consumer generally relies on the factors of customer service process.

In any case, from the above research the accompanying alternatives can be recommended:

1. The most favored activity to be taken by the association is change in-flight benefits that the clients expect higher than the current stage. As the tastes of the clients are on change, the association needs to conduct the customer feedback survey that would help to adapt with the latest services obviously by the passengers of the flight.

2. As per the interior data given by the supervisors, the association needs to rebuild its structure through consolidating new services like implementing prompt boarding time that would help to deliver best flight services and also electronic queuing process.

References

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