Airlines

Service Quality Perceptions of Domestic
Airline Consumers in India:
An Empirical Study*
Bhagyalakshmi Venkatesh 1 & R. Nargundkar2

Abstract
Pricing and service quality are the key variables that decide the brand equity of each player in the airline
industry. Existing literature suggests that measurement and management of service quality is the key
for survival of airline companies. This research paper examines the service quality delivered by four
major airlines in India on the backdrop of stiff competition in the airline service sector. The process of
traveling on a domestic airline was divided into pre-flight, in- flight and post-flight experiences. A
survey was conducted to find out the perceived service quality of frequent fliers on each of the four
airlines across a series of service performance variables. The airline brands were positioned in a perceptual
space, where the perceived service attributes were also mapped. Clear differences emerged among the
airlines, with two of them perceived as being similar to each other, and the other two differing in many
respects.

1. INTRODUCTION expected to grow by 20 percent annually
over the next five years.
India at present has twelve competing
airlines in the domestic market as against Only a small percentage of India’s
a single government owned airline in population travels by air partly due to
1991. According to McKinsey Quarterly the high costs of domestic flying.
(2005), the Indian aircraft market is the According to the Center for Asia Pacific
world’s second largest commercial Aviation (CAPA) consultancy, new
aircraft market. On-time performance and players will help domestic passenger
service levels have risen dramatically and numbers. The players in the current
fares have dropped. Passenger traffic is airline market include airlines like Air

* Received April 12, 2006
1. Research Associate, Dept. of Management Studies, PESIT, 100 Ft Ring Road, Bangalore,
e-mail: bhagi3@gmail.com
2. Director-MBA Program, Dept. of Management Studies, PESIT, 100 Ft Ring Road,Bangalore,
e-mail: rnargundkar@yahoo.com

114 Vilakshan, XIMB Journal of Management

Deccan with low-cost, low-fare and no measurement in the airline industry in the
frills along with airlines like Kingfisher, U.S.A. These studies were based on
which offers some frills, and premium economic variables, and pre-deregulation,
airline like Jet Airways. Competition has developed as service quality assessments
brought in some price advantages to from the perspective of the airline
travelers and has converted many railway consumer. Kearney (1986) was the first one
passengers to airline travelers. This article to conduct service quality assessments
examines customer satisfaction among from the perspective of the airline
travelers of four major domestic airlines consumer in his doctoral dissertation work,
in India. Because of proliferated number which examined service quality from the
of players in the airline industry, airlines perspective of industry-based economic
may enjoy new business opportunities and marketing measures.
along with high competitive threats. The
Many researchers and marketers have
objective of this study is to understand the
focused their attention on customer
customer satisfaction levels of the four evaluations of services in an effort to find
major airlines viz. Jet Airways, Indian ways to improve service quality (Fisk,
Airlines, Air Deccan and Kingfisher. Brown, & Bitner, 1993). Extensive research
A comparison of customer satisfaction has been conducted in the field of service
based on service quality was done among quality. Parasuraman et al. (Parasuraman,
the four major airlines based on responses Berry, & Zeithaml, 1991; Parasuraman,
from frequent fliers across fourteen Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985, 1988) developed
variables on a five point Likert scale. A a service quality measure, called
flying experience was divided into three SERVQUAL, which states that the
stages- namely, pre-flight, in-flight and customer’s assessment of overall service
post-flight experience. A questionnaire quality is determined by the degree and
was designed in such a way that the same direction of the gap between their
sets of variables were measured among expectations and perceptions of actual
the customers of the four airlines under performance levels. They also identified
study. Fliers who had flown any of the five essentials for service quality: tangibles,
four airlines could answer the questions reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and
pertaining to those airlines. The objective empathy. They proposed that perceived
of this study was to understand the service quality could be estimated by
satisfaction levels of the airline customers. calculating the difference between
The study measured the expected level of expectations and perceptions of actual
service quality using a Likert type scale. service performance. The SERVQUAL
scale has been criticized for its validity and
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
reliability. Buttle (1996) pointed out that
In the 1970’s the Civil Aeronautics Board including all 44 items (22 items of service
(Douglas & Miller, 1974; Jordan, 1970) expectations and a duplicate of 22 items of
developed the initial tools of service quality service performance) in one study often

Venkatesh et al, Service Quality ... 115

makes the survey task too difficult for customers consider service reliability, in-
respondents. Cronin and Taylor flight comfort, and connections as the key
(1992,1994) have empirically proved that factors determining satisfaction with
the measures of service performance or airline service, whereas Korean
SERVPERF, is more effective than passengers generally regard reliability,
SERVQUAL, which includes expectations assurance, and risk factors as predictors
as well as performance. SERVPERF is now of satisfaction. This study conducted by
widely used in measuring customer Cunningham, Young, and Lee (2002) is
evaluations of service quality interesting as it has measured service
(Cunningham and Young, 2004). quality based on SERVPERF which is a
set of multi-dimensional measures of
Cunningham and Young (2004) used
customer evaluations of service quality
SERVPERF in measuring the airline
(Cunningham, Young, and Lee 2002).
service quality. Their literature review
suggests that initial publications on airline Wen Li and Chen (1998) studied the
service quality appeared in 1988 quality evaluation of domestic airline
(Gourdin, 1988). Fick & Ritchie and industry using modified Taguchi loss
Gourdin & Kloppenborg were the first to function with different weights and target
apply the service quality gap model to the values. By using Taguchi loss function one
airline industry in 1991. Fick and Ritchie can quantify quality and thus compare
(1991) used the SERVQUAL scale to service quality objectively. According to
measure perceived service quality within Wen Li and Chen (1998), the process of
several service industries including the traveling a domestic airline can be
airline industry. They found the mean described as follows:
scores of consumer expectation and Ticket— Check –in—boarding—
perception of service performance departure—flying—arrival—baggage
measures and failed to determine the claim
relative impact of various SERVQUAL
items on overall service quality and Three quality categories with ten
satisfaction (Cunningham etal 2004). identified variables are proposed by Wen
Li and Chen (1998) and service quality of
Measurement and management of service domestic airline is quantified accordingly.
quality is the fundamental issue for the Taguchi loss function requires industry
survival and growth of airline companies measures to measure airline service
(Cunningham, Young, and Lee 2002). quality.
Cunningham, Young, and Lee (2002)
conducted studies on perceptions of As stated earlier, airline traffic in India has
airline service quality of U.S. and Korean picked up only recently. However,
customers based on SERVPERF and competition has brought to surface,
industry-based measures, as well as their industry issues such as insufficient
perceptions of risks involved in the airline number of pilots, airport facilities and
choice. The results suggested that U.S. trained personnel. When the objective of


low-cost carriers is to convert railway Our study attempts to examine the
passengers to airline travelers at a very satisfaction level of service quality of
low-fare, the focus of the service provider domestic airline travelers in India across
may not be on the service quality but in fourteen airline travel process variables
providing the basic service product. In suggested by Wen Li and Chen (1998)
comparison, America’s budget airlines which are modified to suit the Indian
have started to increase service quality in standards. Some of these variables can
spite of the low fare offers. Southwest and also be included as the reliability and
Jet Blue have strong brand presence and responsiveness variables of SERVPERF.
offer well defined service rather than just The flying experience has been divided
low prices (Economist, 2004). On the other into preflight, on flight and post flight
hand, airline service quality across the experiences.
world have reached new heights where
3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
in international airlines such as Virgin
Atlantic Airways have introduced double 1. To study the customer perceptions of
suites, in-flight beauty therapy treatments service quality of each of the four
and massages, free limousines to and from airlines under study
the airport and many more.
2. To compare the service quality of the
As a result of low fares, there is an airlines under study
expected increase in the volume of
domestic airline travelers in India which 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
has accelerated competition in the air 4.1 Questionnaire Design
travel market. While certain segments in
The respondents were asked to evaluate
choosing an airline, consider price
the service quality of the service provided
advantages, service quality cannot be
absent. According to Zeithaml and Bitner by the airline, which they have traveled.
(1996b), the concept of satisfaction is Perceived service quality of each variable
influenced by five variables viz. 1) service was measured through questions
quality 2) product quality 3) price 4) designed on a 5-point Likert-type scale
situation and 5) personality. ranging from always to never. For
example, the on-time services of the
Natalisa and Subroto ( 2003) combine the airline was measured through the
variables of product quality and service question, “The flights are on time” with
quality into variable of service quality and always as a the best positive response and
studied the customers’ perception of never as the worst negative response, any
service quality in the domestic airline other response can be recorded between
services of Indonesia. “always” and “never” on the scale.
In short, service quality of airlines have Similarly, other good ground service – in-
been studied based on industry measures, flight service and post-flight service were
SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, Taguchi loss measured through the same scale. The
function and Zeithaml and Bitner Model. questionnaire also had a question to check


the response to the loyalty programs full fare to low priced airlines.
provided by the airlines to frequent fliers Convenience sampling was done. Targeted
which was measured through, “ the sample size was 30 per airline, and
airline offers real benefits to frequent achieved sizes were as follows.
fliers” on the five point Likert – type scale.
5. DATA ANALYSIS & RESULTS
The authors discussed the air travel
process with at least five frequent fliers The statistical analyses used were one way
of domestic airlines in India to understand ANOVA, Discriminant Analysis, Cluster
the process in the Indian condition apart analysis and Cross Tabulation. Analysis
from the fact that both the authors are of research data used the level of
themselves frequent fliers of domestic significance, a = 0.05
airlines. For further reference, 5.1 Mean Difference Results
questionnaire is attached as Appendix 1.
Table 2 provides a summary of the mean
4.2 Sample Characteristics
scores for the variables in the study.
Some of the SERVPERF variables
The objective of this study was to examine
developed by Cronin and Taylor (1992)
customer perception of service quality.
were adapted along with the process
One way-ANOVA was performed and
variables (Wen Li and Chen 1998) to the
the result showed a significant difference
Indian market conditions based on the fact
among the four airlines, except in two
that air traffic in India has gone up only in
variables viz. baggage loss and online
the last three years and still a very small
booking. Travelers agreed that all the
percentage of the population travel by air.
airlines manage baggage well and all of
“Population” consisted of the customers of
four domestic airline companies in India them provided online booking.
viz. Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, Air 5.2 Pre-Flight Service Quality
Deccan and Kingfisher. These airlines were
Pre-flight service was examined by rating
selected, as they are representative of the
the variables listed below.
major segments in the airline industry from
Table 1 – Airline wise Composition of 1. Flights are on time
Sample 2. Good ground service,
No Company Obtained number 3. The airline keeps its travelers
of samples informed in the case of a delay
1 Jet Airways 39 through SMS or a call
2. Indian Airlines 40 4. The airlines makes regular
3. Air Deccan 29 announcement in case of a delay to
4. Kingfisher 26 keep the travelers informed of the
“Always” (as a response) was a given a score of status quo
(=1) and “Never” (as a response) was a given a 5. The airline provides refreshments
score of (=5) and any other response was between
these. whenever there is a delay,


Table 2 – Service Quality Scores for Various Airlines
Variables Indian Air Kingfisher One-Way
Jet Air Airlines Deccan ANOV
Mean Mean Mean Mean df F Signi
Value ficance
On-time 1.9231 3.0750 3.96 2.4583 3 21.941 .000
Delay information 1.7895 3.1282 2.8929 2.3158 3 7.372 .000
Announce delay 1.4595 2.0278 2.9231 1.8571 3 9.593 .000
Good in-flight service 1.5641 2.8158 3.7692 1.5833 3 37.506 .000
Good in-flight food 1.7632 2.7895 3.8261 2.0435 3 20.961 .000
Waiting time for 2.2895 2.6053 3.2800 2.4167 3 4.760 .004
baggage
Baggage loss 4.1212 3.6857 3.8696 4.4000 3 1.347 .263
Compensate baggage- 2.6957 3.2083 3.8667 2.5000 3 3.028 .035
Loss
Good ground service 1.7059 2.6000 3.0833 1.5417 3 12.147 .000
Refreshments on delay 1.9189 3.0000 4.1818 1.8095 3 19.609 .000
Accommodation on- 2.2258 2.7931 4.1053 2.7647 3 7.231 . 000
Delay 1.2571 1.7241 1.3333 1.2381 3 1.805 .151
Discounted fare 1.4000 2.0294 1.3462 1.5000 3 3.184 . 023
Real benefits for- 1.4211 2.5455 2.5455 2.1111 3 5.489 .002
Frequent fliers

6. Provide accommodation if there is a delay. Except for Air Deccan, the other
long delay. three airlines were rated as providing
good ground service. In the case of a delay
All the six pre-flight SERVPERF variables
Jet Airways and Kingfisher usually
were found to be significant as shown by
provided the travelers with refreshments
the one way ANOVA that is displayed as
whereas Air Deccan never provided such
Table 2. The four airlines provided
services. Except Air Deccan, all the other
significantly different service quality in
airlines usually provided accommodation
the pre flight service.
in case of delay. The study conducted by
Jet Airways travelers found its flights to Gourdin and Kloppenborg (1991)
be on time usually against Air Deccan identified on-board comfort, being kept
travelers who rated its flights to be almost informed regarding delays and being
never on time. Jet Airways, Kingfisher, cared for when travel was disrupted as
and Air Deccan usually informed the being important to passengers.
customers about delay in advance
5.3 In-flight Services
through SMS or telephone call. Indian
Airlines was rated average on this service Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Kingfisher
quality variable. All the four airlines were were rated as providing very good in-flight
found to be above average in announcing service whereas Air Deccan was rated to


be providing almost no service quality on Table 3: Wilks’ Lambda
in-flight services. Jet Airways was found Test of Wilks’ Chi- df Sig.
to be providing good in-flight food along Fun- Lambda square
with Kingfisher. Indian airlines was rated ction(s)
as average in providing good in-flight 1 through 3 .238 60.340 42 .033
food. Air Deccan did not offer in-flight food
at all. The study conducted by Gourdin 2 through 3 .625 19.774 26 .802
and Kloppenborg (1991) did not find 3 .933 2.897 12 .996
courteous cabin attendants and beverage
service on short flights as important to Table 4: Standardized Canonical
passengers. Discriminant Function Coefficients
5.4 Post Flight Services Function

Air Deccan travelers rated longest waiting 1 2 3
time for baggage arrival against other on time .354 .242 .733
airlines. Baggage loss was found to be delay information -.283 .979 -.150
almost never a problem with Jet Airways good inflight service .742 .211 -.407
and Kingfisher where as Indian Airlines
good inflight food -.326 .072 -.086
and Air Deccan travelers had to face
waiting time .582 -.199 -.253
baggage loss, sometimes. On the
for baggage
occurrence of baggage loss Air Deccan
sometimes never compensated for the baggage loss .073 -.091 .416
baggage loss. compensate -.617 .233 -.535
baggage loss
There was no significant difference among
good ground service .024 -.135 -.643
the airlines on services such as online
refreshments on delay .521 -.273 .072
booking which just meant such a service
was provided by all the airlines. All the accomodation on delay .529 -.466 .304
airlines were found to be providing online booking -.118 -.069 -.352
discounted fares and real benefits for discounted fare -.526 .130 .502
frequent fliers. real benefits for -.060 .440 .102

5.5 Discriminant Analysis frequent fliers
that function 1 consists of good in-flight
Discriminant analysis revealed significant
service, waiting time for baggage,
differences among the airlines. Three
compensation for baggage loss,
functions were produced, of which the
refreshments on delay, accommodation
first was statistically significant. (Refer
on delay and discounted fare. Hence, we
Table 3). The second and third functions
could conclude that the difference
were not significant.
between airlines is a multi-dimensional
From the standardized discriminant construct consisting of in-flight service,
function coefficients (Table 4) , it appears delay handling, baggage handling and


pricing. Together, these may be named as perceptual map is drawn using functions
basic service elements, on which airlines 1 and 2, the relative positions of the four
seem to differ significantly. The only brands of airlines which is derived from
exception seems to be delay information, Table 5.
loading highly on function two, and delay The perceptual map shows that Jet Airways
announcement and good ground service, and Kingfisher are positioned together. Air
which are loading highly on function Deccan and Indian Airlines are positioned
three. But these are not significant far away from each other. A, B, C and D in
statistically and therefore should be the perceptual map represents the airlines
treated with caution. as per Table 6 given below. The horizontal
Positioning of the four airline brands axis represents Function 1 and the vertical
through Discriminant Analysis: A axis, Function 2.
Table 5: Functions at Group Centroids The fourteen attribute vectors are mapped
airline name Function across the perceptual space. Vectors 1 to

1 2 3 Table 6: Brands of Airlines from the
Group Centroids
Jet Airways -1.022 -.733 -.158
Sl No Airline Name
Indian Airlines -.361 .886 -.074
Air Deccan 2.300 -.264 -.059 A Jet airways
Kingfisher -.350 -.189 .643 B Indian airlines
Unstandardized canonical discriminant C Air Deccan
functions evaluated at group means D Kingfisher

Graph 1 : Perceptual Map of four domestic airlines in India based on
Perceived Service Quality: Discriminant Function 1 (horizontal axis)
vs Function 2(vertical axis)
6
2

5

4

3
14

2
1
8
4
B 1
1
3

5

1
2
0 C
D
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 7 1 2 3 4 5
A
-1 9 6

10

-2
3 11

-3 M Series 1


14 can be identified from Table 7 given 5.6 Cluster Analysis
below. Cluster analysis was performed to find
Table 7: Attribute Vectors based on out the similarity between brands and to
Standardized Canonical Discriminant reiterate the positioning exercise done by
Function Coefficients Discriminant analysis. An ANOVA
conducted for cluster analysis showed
1 On time that all the service attributes to be
2 Delay information significantly different across the different
3 Announce delay clusters (Refer Table 8).
4 Good in-flight service
5 Good in-flight food Four major clusters were identified. Cross
6 Waiting time for baggage tabulation was conducted to find the
7 Baggage loss relationship between the brands and the
8 Compensate baggage loss four different clusters. Table 9 shows that
most of the Jet Airways and Kingfisher
9 Good ground service
customers belong to cluster 2. Indian
10 Refreshments on delay
Airlines and Air Deccan customers
11 Accommodation on delay
dominate cluster 3. Cluster 4 has a large
12 Online booking
representation of customers of Indian
13 Discounted fare
Airlines where as cluster 1 does not seem
14 Real benefits for frequent fliers
to be very significant.
Table 8: ANOVA
Cluster Error
Mean df Mean df F Signi
Square Square
on time 30.783 3 .940 126 32.745 .000
delay information 35.893 3 1.209 120 29.680 .000
announce delay 29.422 3 .687 116 42.822 .000
good inflight service 39.452 3 .715 123 55.167 .000
good inflight food 38.787 3 .695 118 55.770 .000
waiting time for baggage 16.200 3 .853 121 18.995 .000
baggage loss 37.954 3 .861 107 44.093 .000
compensate baggage loss 18.986 3 1.214 68 15.641 .000
good ground service 26.857 3 .846 113 31.728 .000
refreshments on delay 39.417 3 1.278 109 30.845 .000
accomodation on delay 34.155 3 1.291 92 26.456 .000
online booking 6.105 3 .677 102 9.020 .000
discounted fare 5.528 3 .900 113 6.140 .001
real benefits for frequent fliers 20.021 3 1.430 107 13.999 .000


Table 9: Airline Name and Cluster Number of Case Cross tabulation
Cluster Number of Case Total
1 2 3 4
airline name Jet Airways 0 27 5 7 39
Indian Airlines 1 7 17 15 40
Air Deccan 6 0 18 5 29
Kingfisher 2 15 4 5 26
Total 9 49 44 32 134

Based on the above findings, Jet Airways airline provides good service quality.
and Kingfisher can be considered as Indian Airlines was rated as providing
brands which have similar attributes, as good in-flight food, waiting time for
most of their customers are found to be baggage, good ground service,
members of cluster two. accommodation on delay and a few other
elements such as price, online booking and
6. CONCLUSION
benefits for frequent fliers. Indian Airlines
This study has several managerial was rated as average or below average on
implications, as it demonstrates that the the rest of the service variables. Baggage
adapted version of SERVPERF scale is loss has been reported as a problem faced
applicable in the Indian conditions. When by some of the Indian Airlines customers.
considered in totality the results of this Air Deccan has been rated by its customers
study suggest that implementation of basic as providing good service quality in
service quality is essential to combat the informing customer about delay. Air
growing competition. Differentiation can Deccan customers are happy with its
occur only by adding new service elements provision for online booking, discounted
along with providing better quality in fare and real benefits for frequent fliers.
delivering the current service. Safety has The study revealed that customers were
been considered as a major element in not happy with all the other service
choosing an airline brand in the west, post variables which suggest that the overall
9/11. Crisis management has also taken service quality of Air Deccan is not
different dimensions in the U.S in the considered good. Some of the Air Deccan
airline industry post 9/11. This trend customers report baggage loss as a
suggests that many different social events problem. Air Deccan calls itself a no-frill
and variables also have an impact on how service provider as it is a low cost airline.
customers look at each brand. This study The travelers of Air Deccan seem to rate it
shows that customers of Jet Airways rate to be a bad service provider even though
it as an airline that provides very good they were flying on low fares. When Air
service quality across the fourteen service Deccan has large volume loads and
variables. Kingfisher ranks second and its generates revenue, it should rethink its
customers have reported that usually the value proposition in terms of providing


basic service quality to stay in the market. Cronin, J. J., Jr., and Taylor, S. A. (1992),
In the U.S.A, Southwest and Jet Blue have “Measuring Service Quality: A
a strong brand presence and offer well Reexamination and Extension,” Journal of
defined service rather than just low prices Marketing, 56 (July), 55–68.
(Economist, 2004). Most of the low cost Cronin, J.J.,Jr. and Taylor, S.A. (1994),
airlines in Europe had to shut shop as they “SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL: Reconciling
were not providing even the basic service Performance-Based and Perceptions-Minus-
quality. A study conducted by Natalisa & Expectations Measurement of Service
Subroto (2003) on the customer satisfaction Quality, Journal of Marketing, 58(January),
of domestic airlines in Indonesia proved 125-131
that customer’s perceptions of service Douglas, G.W.,& Miller, J. C., III. (1974). Economic
quality influence the level of customer regulation of domestic air transport: Theory and
satisfaction by using regression analysis. policy . Washington, DC: Brookings
It can also be a case of concern to Indian Institution.
Airlines and Air Deccan as our study has
Economist (2004). Turbulent Skies, Vol. 372, Issue
found that the overall service quality
8383
provided by these airlines are considered
below satisfactory by its customers. Fick, G. R., & Ritchie, J. R. B. (1991). “Measuring
service quality in the travel and tourism
7. LIMITATIONS industry,” Journal of Travel Research, 30 (Fall),
The findings of this study are limited to 2-9.
the airline industry in India. This study Fisk, R. P., Brown, S. W., and Bitner, M. J. (1993),
has not considered industry measures to “Tracking the Evolution of the Services
measure service quality. We have Marketing Literature,” Journal of Retailing, 69,
measured only the customer perception 1 (Spring), 61–103
of service quality.
Gourdin, K. N., & Kloppenborg, T. J. (1991).
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(1985).A conceptual model of service quality Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi


APPENDIX 1
Service Quality of Domestic Airlines in India: An Empirical Study
Dr. Rajendra Nargundkar and Ms. Bhagyalakshmi Venkatesh of Dept. Of Management
Studies, PESIT Bangalore are conducting a study on the service quality of four Indian
domestic airline services. We request you to spare a few minutes to fill up the questions
below. Thank You.
Please circle the relevant response on the following questions for all airlines you have traveled.
(1=Always, 5=Never, and other responses are between these.)
1. The flights are on-time
a. Jet Airways Always 1 2 3 4 5 Never
b. Indian Airlines Always 1 2 3 4 5 Never
c. Air Deccan Always 1 2 3 4 5 Never
d. King Fisher Always 1 2 3 4 5 Never
2. The airline informs you in advance if there is delay (through sms or call)
3. If the flight is delayed, regular announcements are made
4. In-flight service is good
5. The in-flight food is good
6. The waiting time for baggage arrival is reasonable


7. Baggage loss is a problem with
8. The airline compensates for lost baggage if such a situation arises,
9. The airline provides good check-in services
10. The airline provides refreshments whenever there is a delay
11. The airline provides accommodation if there is a very long delay
12. The airline provides online booking services
13. The airline offers discounted fare schemes
14. The airline offers real benefits to frequent fliers

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