Research Report on JET AIRWAYS

Research Study On “

A Study tu dy on on the th e consu consu mer mer ex pectati pectations ons abou abou t th e  ”

quali qual i ty of ser vice prov pr ovii ded ded by Jet Jet Ai A i r ways  ways 

Submitted By: Viniti Dhar Rishabh Bhalaik  MBA-Marketing 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India has the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. With the advent of liberalization in this sector, the industry had witnessed a complete transformation including entry of the  privately owned service airlines and low cost carriers. The sector has also seen a significant increase in number of domestic air travel passengers. Factors that have been contributing towards higher demand for air transport in India involves the growing middle class and its  purchasing power, overall economic growth of India low airfares offered and the growth of  the tourism industry in India. The Aviation Aviation Industry in India consisting consisting of high range of services services namely; a i r transport such as passenger and cargo airlines, airport management, ground handling, private jets and helicopters, in-flight catering, and human training. This industry has received great benefits out of the entry of private players, mostly from low fares ones. The growth of this sector has caused a sharp increase in demand for services including MRO, ground handling, and catering services. The booming air industry, along with its allied services has brought about a significant talent crunch, which in turn leads to boosting opportunities for  training service providers. The constant expanding Indian Economy and increasing demand has resulted in the emergence for air cargo services to greater  extent. The aviation sector still has a very small part of the total travel and transportation service sector when comes to India. It has been suffering from several challenges like inadequate infrastructure being the most crucial, the high cost of  operations, intense competition, and unsustainably low fares have contributed to these losses. Apart from the initiatives that are being taken to change these bottlenecks to growth, a need for further investments in capacity is felt more than ever. A recent spate of mergers, however, has come to some relief. Also, due to government initiatives, large amount of public and  private investments have hav e been pouring in. In addition to the above stated drawbacks, a few more includes like the decelerating profit margins does not affect declining rate of revenue generation. The major reason behind the same is the increasing costs that just add fuel to the current plight. India’s aviation industry fights up with the upcoming crisis against the emerging global competitors. Affordability and connectively are the two main elements that are essential with respect to the domestic  passengers and cargo car go traffic. If we look from the past perspective, certainly this industry has undergone a major  transformation from being government owned to now being privately dominated. It has about 75% share of the domestic aviation market. This transformation has also resulted in a changing image of the same by making it affordable by a number of people worldwide. Importance of this industry can thus be analysed by the increasing tourism in the country, improving infrastructure, increasing income levels and globalization which in turn boosts the

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air travel. The major reason for exponential increase in tourism is because of the Open Sky  policy between India and SAARC. The political analysis indicates that any unstable political environment causes uncertainty in the minds of the travellers whereas economic factors include income and recession conditions in any country. With social elements being extensive in nature due to wide variety of  demographic culture in India, it is thus important to use customization to the greatest possible extent. For aviation industry, technological factors include use of internet and systems used  by the authority for growth growt h and demand. Segmentation for such an industry would involve with respect to the different kinds of  customers and their varied needs from the same. The three approaches of marketing in airline industry include: a) Undifferentiated Strategy  b) Differentiated Strategy c) Concentrated Strategy Also other variables that separated airline consumers are as below: a)  b) c) d)

Preference for price Price and Services Luxury and Privacy Brand Names

Considering the future prospects for airline industry includes Consolidation where will ease out the competition and give pricing power to dominant players, strong passenger growth and domestic passenger flow. In contrast to the same, problems faced by the same involves High cost of turbine fuel and other being slow improvement in infrastructure. Although the characteristics of airline services as mentioned above have lent themselves to a relationship marketing approach, many of the customer-related efforts of airlines centre around loyalty programmes that aim to increase short-term sales instead of focusing on longterm quality relationships between the airline and its customers. Nowadays instead of  focussing on acquisition of new customers, emphasis is laid on retaining the existing customers. Therefore, al this stands as a reason for airline industry to build on the relationships with customers and retain the same for increasing profitability. Hence the role of the airline industry in the global economy cannot be over-emphasised.

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COMPANY PROFILE: JET AIRWAYS

Jet Airways is one of India’s premier private airlines industries. The Company operates in two segments: Air Transportation and Leasing of Aircraft and running under two geographic segments: domestic and international. It was incorporated as an ‘air taxi’ operator on April 1, 1992. Jet Airways started its commercial airline operations on 5 May 1993 with a fleet of  four leased Boeing 737-300 aircrafts and 24 daily flights serving 12 destinations with initial investment of US$ 10 Million. In January 1994 a change in the law enabled Jet Airways to apply for scheduled airline status, which was granted on 4 January 1995. It began international operations to Sri Lanka in March 2004 with inaugural flight from Chennai to Colombo. In addition to all this, it has receives the ISO 9001:2000 certification, for its inFlight services.

Currently, Jet Lite (India) Limited operates a fleet of 25 having 18 Boeing 737 series and 7 Canadian Regional Jets 200 series. The airline flies to 28 domestic destinations and two international destinations (Kathmandu and Colombo), operating over 110 flights a day, on an average. The Company’s subsidiary includes Jet Lite. In January 2006, Jet Airways declared its decision to buy Air Sahara, the only other major   private airline, makin g it one of the biggest takeovers takeov ers in Indian aviation av iation history. The resulting airline would have been the country's largest, but unfortunately the deal fell badly through in June 2006. However, a modified deal was brought through in April 2007 and Air Sahara  became Jet Lite. In August 2008, the th e airline announced its plans p lans to fully integrate Jet J et Lite into JetAirways. Moreover, in October 2008, Jet Airways also announced an alliance with Kingfisher Airlines that included an agreement on code-sharing on domestic and international flights, common ground handling, join fuel management, join utilisation of crew and sharing of similar  frequent flier programmes. In May 2009, Jet Airways introduced another low-cost airline Jet Konnect with spare aircraft that were earlier discontinued due to low passenger load factors. Jet Airways Konnect uses the same operator code as Jet Airways. Since then the same is running successively all over India and abroad. It has also been witnessed that CRM acts critical to the airline industry due to fierce competition; economics relating to customer retention is unequivocal and lastly with the help of technology with directly affects its profitability. Other ways to increase the profitability are acquiring new customers, optimize the value of existing customers and try retaining the customer longer. Here it has been understood that acquiring new customer has been difficult in this industry. Products and services offered by Jet Airways includes On ground services, Jet Spark, Inflight Services, cargo, Jet Konnect, Jet Mall, Jet escape, e scape, Jet mobile etc. CRM at different travel Experience level is further subdvided into Pre, Board and Post. Pre stage consists of marketing Communication, Sales and reservation and Check-In. In Board, Flight services are considered like arrivalservices, Managing connections etc.And Post stage includes Baggage Service, Customer feedback and Rewards in terms lounge services, miles program and upgrades. For Jet Airways, there is something called Loyalty ladder which runs as below:

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Partner Advocate Supporter Client Customer Prospect

And stages of relationship for Jet Airways are classified extensively considering the customer  satisfaction levels. Loyalty

Switching

Satisfaction

Committment

Trust

The above relationship is maintained with regard to the existing customers and rewards the respective customers with the different privileges being offered by the same. Where loyal customers are rewarded with Gold Card, Committed are rewarded with Silver and Gold, Trustworthy customers are acknowledged with Blue and blue Plus, Satisfying customers are  provided with effective communication, understanding the unexpressed needs and wow the customers. And lastly for the switching customers restrict them with certain barriers. Currently, Jet airways holds stake of 26.1 % of the total market share with respect to the domestic passenger carriers.

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INTRODUCTION: CUSTOMER EXPECTION FROM SERVICE QUALITY

Meeting the ever increasing expectations of customers in any industry is almost akin to scaling the Everest heights. Nowadays, customers are arguing that there is nothing like excellent service since there is always one thing more i.e., ‘the extra mile’ which the companies can do in order to improve services. This raises set of questions, how would an organisation meet its customer’s expectations? What are these customers’ expectations in the first place? What does a potential passenger of  an airline, for example, expect from his chosen airline than safely flying him from one point to another? Understanding the needs of these airline passengers in particular and customers in general and predicting how to reach them significantly impacts on how to grow, develop,  price, market and distribute an organisation’s core and ancillary products, especially during this hard economic times. At the time when the need arises for passenger to travel, the first thing that would click him would be the best airline that meets his expectations. This could be through consistently keeping out cheap fares, state of the video on Demand in-flight entertainment, fleet of  aircraft, excellent customer service, the airlines choice of food and drinks on board, pre and  post flight service/experience, service/experie nce, On Time Performance (OTP), baggage handling and any service considered important by the customer. In the past, major airlines’ service quality was measured by variables like flight frequency, load factors, waiting/ transit times and aircraft type/age. All these service quality variables are not only important from the perspective of the tourism and leisure industry but remains important or the conduct of effective international business. As air travel is intangible due to the fact that passengers’ benefits only come with the journey and experience, it has been observed that in services marketing with respect to the airline industry, the distinctive features of services are: intangibility, inseparability, perishability and heterogeneity which require understanding the expectations, creating, communicating and delivering customer value and keeping promises. According to an expert, it is therefore important for managers to constantly seek in order to improve organisational effectiveness considering the competitive global market which is possible through identifying organisational metrics in order to achieve long term success In contrast to the above another expert however, observed that these strategies have not been highly successful because of insufficient marketing support. Others argue that in order to achieve constant success, organisations should make efforts in identifying and satisfying customers’ needs and work more effectively than what their competitors does. Airlines industry need to constantly be in touch with their customers to feel their pulse in order to figure out what they want from the organisation and how they want it done. The airlines  players have to accept the fact that a passenger has a goal that he wants to satisfy beyond  being safely flown from point A to point B. Recognising this existence is the beginning of  meeting the customers’ expectations. Excellent and exceeding service delivery goes beyond the point B. B. With the increasing competition, passengers now have wide range of options to choose from by simple 6

comparison. Realizing the importance of customers, most airlines have initiated a variety of   programmes and activities to retain them, th em, knowing very v ery well that loyalty comes as a result of  expectations which are being met in the past. This benefit of passenger loyalty has a multiplier affect in the airline industry, hence the launch of the frequent flyer programme; a  programme aimed at winning, retaining and rewarding loyal passengers of an airline. It has thus been emphasized that retaining the loyal customers is the need of the hour  Keeping the above points in mind, Jet Airways has initiated various services in order to give unique privileges and experience to their existing, prospective customers in the form of  membership tiers:     

Blue Blue Plus Silver  Gold Exclusive Platinum

Members using these services can expect to earn more miles, Enjoy more benefits, quicker  tier update and easier redemptions. The benefits associated with customer loyalty include lower costs of retaining existing customers rather than constantly recruiting new ones. Moreover, it has been observed that long term customers are likely to expand their relationship within the product range being offered. It is thus obvious to note that when a passenger’s expectations are met by an airline, the passenger is likely to return to the airline when next he makes his purchase decision and eventually becomes loyal to the airline, at times, along with the members of his family. Behaviourally loyal customers act as information channels, that informally links networks of  friends, relatives and other potential customers to the organisation. Thus in order to achieve customer retention and loyalty, it is important to provide a certain degree of superior service value that would finally result in having a competitive advantage. Loyalty is achieved by organisations that display fairness, consistency and reliability in the different range of services. Quality with respect to this service is thus the gap between the expectation and perceptions developed in regard to the same. With its recent up gradation, Jet has been focussing more on the bonding with the consumers and involving itself with building long term relationships with them as it has been witnessed that acquiring new customers is very costly in this industry. This retention is made possible through a complete circle where the existing customers are measured, interviewed, analysed and finally sets switching barrier. Measurement of retention is done on the basis of number of  consumers lost and Consumer remains valid with Jet Privilege cards. In the second stage the interview with the customers starts with Feedback and later differentiates the same with negative feedback and later calls to get insightful details about the same. The third stage includes analysing complaints and service data which starts with analysing with online  portals and feedback forms and later ends with action with regard to their problem. All this collectively helps Jet airways in building long term relationships with their customers. Various switching barriers include value for money, Jet Privilege, price defectors, service defectors, organisational defectors, market defectors and seamless service.

It is broadly divided into four major subheadings as follows: 7

Interaction Management Loyalty Program

Customer care Help desk Web, Sales Force

• • •

Frequent flier programs Mileage accural airport lounge

• • •

Campaign management

Tie up with credit cards Tie up with portal, agents Out bound email

• • •

In flight Experience Baggage tracing Complaint Handling

•

Feature and Fuction

• •

In order to gain maximum satisfaction from customers usually airline industry focuses on relationship marketing. Relationship marketing refers to efforts by organisation to retain its customers by emphasizing on building long term relationships over lifetime of the consumers. In such an industry the length of the customer with the organisation defines and evaluates the profitability. Also, one of the other importances of retaining the existing customers are that is less expensive and is linked to the organisational bottom line. Although the organisations do understand the benefits of customer retention is well understood but this principle tends to be ignored as preference is given to acquisition of  consumers. By focussing on acquisition and not on retention, the organisation will not be attentive about customer defections as to what are the reasons for a shift to the other airline or  industry. Consumer Retention holds both economic and non economic benefits for the organisation. Economic benefits include possible forecast consumer’s purchases, costs regarding sales and marketing can be minimised. Whereas Non Economic Benefits include the willingness and interest of consumers to work with organisation for nurturing further  relationships. For consumer Expectation is it therefore important to understand the causes that lead to these defections whereby such consumers who shift could be interviewed and then implement strategies to solve the same. These defects with respect to their competitors are due to product quality reasons, Market Reasons, organisational reasons, price reasons and technology Reasons. Apart from this consumer perception also plays an important in establishing long term relationship with regard to consumer expectations. Consumer perception is nothing but the perceived value about any given brand. The gap between Consumer expectations and consumer perceptions is called service quality. Service quality is an added advantage that one  brand has over the other othe r also with respect to the attributes. at tributes.

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RESEARCH PROBLEM The research is to understand why people buy Jet Airways service and the different gaps occurring while delivering service variables, customer expectations, service quality specified and delivered. Most importantly, the degree of reliability on the services offered needs to be evaluated thereby, determining the long term or short term relationship with the company. The need is to understand the service quality gaps and Jet Airways ranking with respect to consumer expectations and consumer perceptions in comparison to other brands in market. Further, it is also important to understand the service attributes provided and ranked according to the respondent group. Consumer expectations is what every organisation aims at fulfilling to the greater extent. However, organisation can enhance and maintain themselves if they constantly keep an eye over the changes and respond immediately. The problem is such a research also arises due to the fact that this industry involves maximum interaction between the service provider and consumers.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE One of the theoretical objectives of this study is to understand the concept of service quality with respect to Jet Airways and find out the different variables to measure service quality. Also to evaluate the tangible attributes that are essential for any airline industry in the order  of their respective ranks and intangible attributes that are measured with respect to responsiveness, assurance, reliability and empathy. The second objective is to define a model wherein different service variables effect consumer  expectations. Verifiable objectives are to test the model on selected customer group. Then, the results are used to investigate what services customers consider as the cornerstones of  their flight experience, and if there are any differences in service quality preferences amongst respondent groups (such as male/female travellers, as well as business/leisure travellers). With the results from this result one can identify the service variables that are essential for a consumer at the time selecting an airline. In addition to this the gaps in delivering the quality services can be identified so as to rectify in case of deviations. Finally this research also determines the effect of airline industry efforts on consumer  relationships with the airline service provider.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Our research is sought to obtain responses from the respondents who are familiar with air  travelling experience with Jet Airways. Therefore rather than convenient sampling, a sample of randomly frequent air travellers were drawn majorly from airport and Airport Buses. A self administered questionnaire was again randomly distributed to passengers at check in Counters and passengers travelling through the local bus going towards airport. This work  was conducted over a period of one week to ensure that the data is not skewed by any holidays. These were distributed early mornings, late mornings and afternoon to ensure variety in the respondents who completed the questionnaire.

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Self administered questionnaire was actually chosen because it being the cost effective whereby variety can be accommodated and encouraging them to express and rank the service quality attributes with respect to other brands in comparison to Jet Airways. The questionnaire is divided into two parts where in the first half reads the tangible attributes attached to this industry and latter consists of intangible elements. This study gives insight about the service variables and factors affecting the customer  expectation, Jet Airways as a subject. The company is reviewed in terms of various service offerings, its quality and new service development. The literature is used to build up a service model, which is tested to find out most important service quality attributes for the customers. Further, conducting a survey using a structured questionnaire which also consists element of  descriptive research (Sample size-50). Apart from the primary data collection, retrospective research is also considered to gain clarity over the existing service variables and how it has changed over time. The SERVQUAL Model was encouraged in this research as both intangibles and Tangibles elements were included. The attributes being identified in Intangibles include responsiveness, reliability, assurance and Empathy. Whereas Tangibility includes attributes like On Time, Flexibility, Price, quality, seat Comfort and Cabin Cleanliness. Apart from all this, it would also consider the respondent selection which was done randomly.

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DATA ANALYSIS An essential tool that was used in order to complete the research was a structured questionnaire. Apart from the primary data collection from the former method, secondary sources were also used such as Journals and research papers. The secondary collection for  data helped in retrospective analysis which finds out how services have been changed over  time. Analyses has been done keeping in mind only the responses recorded from the respondents (Sample Size =50) Considering data collection through primary data, the responses were selected randomly of  which the gender can be evaluated by: Male: 24 and Female: 26 (Numbers)

GENDER

MALE FEMALE

 Next in order to fully define the sample it is important to understand the demographic elements attached to it. Out of this one is age. The below graph clearly shows that the age group between 35yrs44yrs passengers’  passengers’ maximum travelling through a airways.

AGE 8 7 6 5 AGE

4 3 2 1 0 15 - 2 4

25-34

35-44

45 +

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Tangible elements by Jet Airways: Ranking

Tangible Elements

On Time Flight Connectivity Flexibility Price Quality

Through this pie chart it can be inferred that if considering only tangible elements, there are certain attributes which become essential for the consumers at the time of selecting one airline over the other. Here, it can be thus being clearly seen that price is the dominant factor  in comparison to other. And after price, it is on time flights is what is important for the customers. THE SERVQUAL MODEL In this built up model, the intangibilities related to different brands were ranked and recorded. This intangibility is evaluated on the basis of responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy. This all together provides answer to where the gap actually lies between the identity and Image in the minds of end consumers. This model further helps in finding out the difference between the Consumer expectations’ and perceptions’. Consumer perceptions’ is nothing but the perceived value of the brand by them which can differ as to what is actually delivered. Though in the dataset Apart from Jet Airways, Spice and Indigo, other brands like Go Air and kingfisher ’s ’s data was also recorded but nothing has been presented or interpreted in any form. This has two reasons; Kingfisher has already withdrawn its service whereas Go Air accounts for a negligible share in the market. So interpretation is done only for Three Brands that are a  buzz these days. All these intangible elements are linked with a brand and later interpreted as to what identity one brand focussed at and what in reality they actually are perceived like.

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Calculations Eigenvalues Function

Eigenvalue

% of Variance

Cumulative %

Canonical Correlation

1

.269

a

82.6

82.6

.461

2

.057

a

17.4

100.0

.232

a. First 2 canonical discriminant functions were used in the analysis.

Wilks' Lambda Test of Function(s)

Wilks' Lambda

Chi-square

df

Sig.

1 through 2

.746

42.583

10

.000

2

.946

8.015

4

.091

Standardized Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients Function 1 Responsiveness

2

-.035

-.189

Reliability

.986

.148

 Assurance

-.445

.426

Empathy

.040

.485

-.138

.573

ValueforMoney

Structure Matrix Function 1

2 *

Reliability

.874

ValueforMoney

-.032

.736

*

Empathy

.033

.581

*

 Assurance

-.299

.578

*

.000

.000

*

Responsiveness

.340

Pooled within-groups correlations between discriminating variables and standardized canonical discriminant functions Variables ordered by absolute size of  correlation within function.

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*. Largest absolute correlation between each variable and any discriminant function

Functions at Group Centroids Brand

Function 1

2

Jet Airways

.302

.304

Indigo

.421

-.272

-.723

-.032

Spicejet

Unstandardized canonical discriminant functions evaluated at group means

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The final Interpretations

Value for Money

Empathy

Assurance

JET AIRWAYS Reliability

SPICE Responsiveness

INDIGO

Through the above stated service gap analysis can be done with respect to three brands namely: Jet Airways seems closer to empathy that signifies that since its positioning is done on the  basis of the same attribute, it means that it is successful in making consumers aware about close relationship between service identity and service Image For Indigo, it is for sure they are clear about their On Time Flights i.e reliability as the consumers’ perception exactly coincides with the s ame. This ensures it is able a ble to convey what they actually intended to. Lastly same is with Spice Jet where they lay emphasis on responsiveness i.e how quickly they respond to situations which involves their cabin crew too. This analysis thus indicates a clear  consensus about the image in the minds of the consumers and identity which accounts for its willingness to be perceived as one.

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QUESTIONAIRE Personal details

Name: Age: a) 15

 – 

24

b) 25

 – 

34

c) 35

 – 

44

d) 45+

Gender: a) Male b) Female

1) How often do you travel on vacation/ work/ business? a) Very often (0-15days) b) Often (15-30days) c) Once in a while (1

 – 

6 months)

d) Rarely (more than 6 months)

2) Which is the most fr equent mode of transport that you use? a) Rail b) Road c) Air

3) Have you travelled by Jet Airways? a) Yes b) No

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4) Have you heard about Jet airways, if yes, where did you hear about Jet airways? a) Magazines b) Hoardings c) Radio channels d) Internet e) Word of mouth

5) Do advertisements make a difference in choosing the airline you travel by? a) Yes b) No

6) Have you ever redeemed a coupon or voucher that was given out at a campaign by an airline service? a) Yes b) No

7) When taking a trip which all things do you consider before selecting an airline (You can tick one or more) a) On time flights b) Connectivity c) Flexibility d) Cost e) Quality and Service

8) Out of the following by which airlines have you travelled the most if service quality were to be given preference? (i) Go Air (ii) Kingfisher (iii) Jet Airways (iv) Indigo (v) Spice Jet

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9) On a scale of 1 to 5 rate the importance of the following, all are individual questions and all are to be marked independently for Jet Airways Criteria

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

(i) On time flight (ii) Connectivity (iii) Flexibility (iv) Price of the ticket (v) Quality and Service

10) Service Quality dimensions:

Criteria

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

(i) Seat Comfort (ii) Cleanliness of cabin (iii) Cleanliness of Toilets (iv) Newspaper/Magazines (v) Quality of Beverages

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Perceptual Mapping

Please tick marks the relevant response on the following questions for all airlines you have travelled. 11) Responsiveness: Timing/Courtesy/Language: Strongly Agree Agree

Not Sure

disagree

Strongly Disagree

Go air Kingfisher Jet Airways Indigo Spice Jet

12) Reliability: Staff services without fumbles/responds quickly/response in proper time: Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure disagree Strongly Disagree Go air Kingfisher Jet Airways Indigo SpiceJet

13) Assurance: Cabin crew safety drill/efficiency of check in staff/service quality of crew: Strongly Agree

Agree

Not Sure

disagree

Strongly Disagree

Go air Kingfisher Jet Airways Indigo SpiceJet

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14) Empathy: Attention to customers/Flight timings/Long term relationship with customers: Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure disagree Strongly Disagree Go air Kingfisher Jet Airways Indigo SpiceJet

15) The Airline provides value for money Strongly Agree

Agree

Not Sure

disagree

Strongly Disagree

Go air Kingfisher Jet Airways Indigo SpiceJet

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LIMITATIONS Firstly this research is exploratory in nature so its limitation should therefore be considered. Since randomly these samples were selected then it should be inferred that conclusion is  being drawn from the same. Secondly this research was restricted towards only one airport and scope is limited to a certain demographical group and only flights within geographical area being Bangalore is addressed in the survey though the nationalities of respondents varied. Next, only flights with mid-range full network carriers and low cost airlines were taken into consideration in the survey. Luxury airlines and long haul flights were taken out of  the scope in order to limit a number of attributes so as to balance customer expectations.  Normally, service expectations ex pectations are different and more complex when wh en flying on longer flights, flights , hence difficulty in quantifying the same may arise. Such key service quality dimensions as safety, flight frequency, reliability etc. is considered on generic level only, with the analysis focusing on service attributes such as speed of check-in, entertainment and catering on board as well as employees’ attitude. The results of any customer expectation survey can be an essential but it can be dangerous to rely fully on them. Also, this research involved an experiment, with respondents being randomly assigned to treatment conditions. Finally it was felt that for such a research the sample size should be extensive but due to time and financial constraints, the same was restricted.

EXPECTED FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS This research will conclude that customers would definitely value basic services variables in service process such as information on tickets and flight schedule, communication in case of  flight delay as well as no delays in baggage delivery. No significant differences will be found  between the target respondents being male and female passengers expect that the male respondents may consider  employees’ appearance and attitude towards them as more important compared to female respondents. Finally, from close relations between some of the attributes and service variables, the conclusion can be made that the respondents do not differentiate significantly between in-flight or ground services, and view the air travel experience as a total in sum.

END NOTES These four terms are explicitly associated with services: • Inseparability implies that the produ ction of a service cannot be separated from the consumption thereof, i.e. a service is produced and consumed at the same time • Intangibility is the major service characteristic that distinguishes it from a product in that it cannot be perceived by the senses, i.e. a service is not physical • Perishability implies that unused service capacity cannot be stored for future use • Heterogeneity suggests that services are, due to the fact that they are delivered deli vered by People, susceptible to variation in quality

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