BRAND POSITIONING IN THE INDIAN AVIATION MARKET:

EXPECTATIONS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

PARIKSHAT SINGH MANHAS* and DARSHAN SINGH**

*Supervisor- Pof. Parikshat Singh Manhas, Director, The Business School & School of Hospitality and
Tourism Management University of Jammu.
**Darshan Singh. Scholar, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Indira Gandhi National Open
University(IGNOU), New Delhi.

ABSTRACT

Brand Positioning of airlines in today's highly competitive and constantly changing

environment is one of the most important elements in an airline's marketing strategy.
Domestic airlines in India continue to conduct their business in a very competitive
environment, their passengers are becoming more consciously aware of competitor offerings
and are thus beginning to demand and expect higher standards of service delivery. It is for
this reason that domestic passenger airlines need to identify those services which are
important to passengers and to satisfy their needs through the medium of high-quality
service delivery to make their brand positioning in the Indian aviation market.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the quality of service on domestic flights
of selected Indian airlines. The present study aims is to determine the relative influence of
passengers perceptions and expectations in brand positioning of selected airlines operating
in Indian Aviation Market and determining how passengers experience are varied depending
upon the need of travel? The research instrument was used as self administered
questionnaire which was made after interaction were held with airline staff and passengers,
based on D'Astous and Chartier (2000:152) questionnaire consisted of seven rating scales
to capture the study's main variables namely; customer experience, perceptions and purpose
of travel. Total 720 questionnaire were distributed among the respondents out of which only
580 useable responses were received from the respondents without any missing responses.
It was found that passengers are mostly concerned with the reliability of service,
responsiveness of the airline followed by consistency in the quality service. The findings
suggest that the steps to be taken for the purpose of service improvement. Airlines should
focus more on security measures and well-trained employees, as this will give passengers
more confidence. Among other factors being responsive and prompt and willing to help,
with a courteous attitude, should be a priority objective for employees as part of the service
culture. The findings also suggest that more resources should be invested to improve loyalty
and frequent flyer programmes. The suggestions of this study could be used to improve the
current process of service delivery such as ground services like behavior of ground staff,
check-in process, handling of baggage etc and in-flight service like behavior of crew,
entertainment facilities, cleanliness of aircraft/seat, quality of food offerings etc.

KEYWORDS : Airline industry, Brand Positioning, Passengers perception & expectation,

Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, Civil Aviation, Service quality
INTRODUCTION
In India, as is the case internationally, the air travel market on both domestic and
international routes has been witnessing greater competition in recent years. (Competition in
Indian Aviation market has been increased both in domestic as well in international routes in
recent years). The introduction of low cost airlines and increasing customer awareness of
service quality has added to the competitive nature of the environment. Under these situations
airlines not only attempt to establish more convenient routes, but also introduce more
promotional incentives, including mileage rewards, frequent flyer membership programmes
and other benefits so as to grow the numbers of customers and retain them ( As a result of
these situations airlines took many steps like establish more convenient routes, introduce
many promotional incentives like frequent flyer membership programmes, mileage rewards
and other benefits so as to increase the numbers of customers and retain them). The marginal
benefits of marketing strategies gradually decrease as most airlines act similarly so some air
carriers now tend to position themselves to improve the quality of customer service (Tsaur,
Chang & Yen, 2002:107). (The real benefits of marketing strategies bit by bit decreases as
most of the airlines act similarly in some extent as a result of which some many air carriers
now concentrating to their brand position by improving the quality of customer service Tsaur,
Chang & Yen, 2002:107.) Brand positioning plays a important role in differentiating the
superiority of products or services over others. Brand Positioning of airlines depends on
the customer's perceptions and expectations from the particular airline. In order to make a big
brand position it is important to establish good relationships and create loyal customers, they
can make use of the techniques of customer relationship management (CRM) and loyalty
programmes such as frequent flier, mileage programmes etc.
Airlines must be able to recognize themselves in the eyes of customer by focusing on service
quality provide (on time performance etc.) because their long-term success depends on how
well their brand positioned in the market place. (Several researchers have carried out the
different studies in the fields of tourism industry among the variables like service quality, value
and others important related issues such as choice of airline (Ritchie, Johnston & Jones,1980,
Ehterington & Var, 1984), customer loyalty (Ostrowski, O Brien & Gordon, 1993; Young,
Lawrence 7 Lee, 1994), airline type (jones & Sasser,1995),assessment group (Gourdin &
Kloppendberg,1991) and attribute dependency (Elliot & roach ,1993). Airline products are not
physical objects, but performances and experiences. The performances may differ substantially
from one service provider to another and also from one customer to another (Sirakaya,
Mclelland & Uysal, 1996) and also differ from one experience to another with the same
customer. Customers' perceptions of airlines and the brand positioning of the airlines in their
minds very much influenced by every interaction between customers and the airline.
Therefore to determine how selected airlines operating to and from India are distinguished by
passenger to differ in terms of their brand positioning, based on assign of service quality
provided , with two hypothesis as follows are

H1: The brand positioning of the selected airlines will differ based on passengers perceptions
and expectations of service quality provided.
H2: If passengers needs for travelling are different, then there will be a important difference in
their perceptions and expectations of service quality.
Overall, this research will help airlines to identify their closest competitors, their
strengths and weakness and the areas that need improvement in order to better position
themselves in the market place and helps to show an overview of what a passenger can expect
from the airlines they travelled, drawing attention to the importance of perception and
expectations in the Indian aviation industry, encouraging further in-depth discussion on the
topic, and providing implications for future areas of research and industry applications.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Engel & Blackwell (1982) defined positioning strategy as customers' mental image of products:
locating continuous recognition structure, comprehends the recognition structure, and sets
the position approach in compliance with the level. There are a variety of studies about
positioning categories. Day, Shocker & Srivastava (1979) stated that positioning is composed
of product-markets, so that categorized products differentiated positioning and market
differentiated positioning. Walker, Orville, Harper & Larreche (1998) and Kardes (1999)
proposed that positioning is divided to attribute positioning, convenience positioning,
quality/price positioning , user positioning, and use condition positioning, and product
category positioning. Aaker & Myers (1982) classified product characteristics or usage of
clients' benefit, positioning of price-quality, positioning of usage and application, positioning of
product user, positioning of product class, positioning. Lee (2004) categorized consumer
positioning, competitive positioning, and repositioning as kinds of positioning. in detail,
consumer positioning is composed of attribute & convenience positioning, image positioning,
and use condition positioning.

It is said that positioning links special symbols or identities within a core strategy to build
image. Positioning is how specific products or services are located in the mental perceptions of
customers in a certain target market. Companies acquire competitive strategy through
positioning (Smith & Keegan, 2003) and airlines are no exception. Most studies on positioning
analyze three factors of mental image: cognitive, emotional, and active. Existing positioning
studies have certain difficulties unifying their approach because there are ambiguities that few
studies have certain difficulties unifying their approach because there are ambiguities that few
studies of image have addressed (Grunig, 1993) exchange of people and ideas (Oum & Yu,
1999:1) of customer service (Tsaur, Chang & Yen , 2002:107). Airlines must be able to
recognize themselves about financial difficulties for airlines (Aksoy, Atilgan & Akinci,
2003:343). In terms of the finding by Gursoy et al.(2005;59),Fisher (1991:19-20) stated
that:".....a differentiated position generates high returns on profits......". Gilbert and Wong
(2003:519) found that the selection of a brand positioning strategy correlates significantly
with a company's financial performance. Brand positioning of any product or company is
depends on the consumer's perceptions (Brooks bank, 1994:10). The performances may differ
substantially from one service provider to another and also from one customer to another
(Sirakaya, Mclellan d & Uysal, 1996) and specification of the source of data. The main goal of a
formal research design is to answer the research questions posed (Cooper & Schindler,
2003:146) for examining relationships between service quality and related issues such as
choice of airline (Ritchie, Johnston & Jones, 1980,Ehterington & Var, 1984), customer loyalty
(Ostrowski, Brien & Gordon,1993; Young, Lawrence & Lee, 1994), airline type (Jonrd & Sasser,
1995), assessment group (Gourdin & Kloppendberg, 1991) and attribute dependency (Elliot &
Roach, 1993) strategies, which are important to gain and retain air passengers
(Goldstein,2001:240) programmes their competitive advantage lie in the service quality
perceived by customers (Chang &vYeh,2002;166) customers needs and expectations and keep
promises (Aksoy,Atilgan & Akinici, 2003:343).

Increasing competition from low cost, low fare carriers is one of the fundamental challenges
being faced by the traditional full service carriers (Chen, Gupta & Rom 1994; Cerasani 2002;
Gillen & Morrison 2002; Sayanak 2003; Franke1 & Hamilton 2004; Cary 2004; O’Connell 2005;
and Pant 2006) and it has also led to reduction in average quality of service provided to the
customer (Trapani & Olson 1982; Bhatt 1997; Chan 2000; Butler 2001; Servitopoulos
2002; Mazzeo 2003; Morrison 2004; Manuela 2007).

The airline industry is inherently unstable (Doganis 2006) and highly competitive, where all
airlines have comparable fares and matching frequent flyer programs. In such a scenario,
service quality is a significant driver of passenger satisfaction, loyalty and choice of airline
(Sultan et al 2000; Chang et al 2002, Gilbert et al 2003; Rust et al 2006).

Airlines need to have valid and reliable measures for a better understanding of the variables
likely to impact the perception of service quality being offered by them. They need to measure
not only customer perceptions but also expectations of airline passengers. If significant
variations are found in the perceptions of airline passengers’ vis-à-vis service quality on the
different flights, changes in the marketing mix need to be implemented to improve the
perception of quality. But, in general, passenger hardships have increased after Sept 11 attacks
(Leone & Liu 2003; Gkritza, Niemeier & Mannering 2006).

Several papers have been written during the past few years examining the service quality of
airline industry. These papers focus primarily on measuring the performance of airlines using
SERVQUAL instrument (Gourdin & Kloppenborg 1991; Ostrowski, O'Brien & Gordon 1993;
Young, Cunningham, & Moonkyu 1994; Bejou & Palmer 1998; Gustafsson, Ekdahl &
Edvardsson 1999; Sultan & Simpson 2000; Chang et al 2002; Tsaur, Chang & Yena 2002;
Gilbert & Wong 2003; Alter 2003; Kozak, Karatepe & Avci 2003; Boland, Morrison & O’Neill
2003; Natalisa & Subroto 2003; Scheraga 2004; Truitt & Haynes 1994; Heracleous, Wirtz, &
Johnston 2004; Bel 2005; Ling et al 2005; Gursoy, Chen. & Kim 2005; Knibb 2005; Rhoades &
Waguespack 2005; Anitsal & Paige 2006; Hunter 2006; Pham 2006; Pham & Simpson 2006;
Park, Robertso & Wu 2005,2006; Sima, Kohb & Shetty 2006; Venkatesh & Nargundkar 2006;
Chitnis 2007; Pakdil & Aydin 2007; Chitnis 2007; Lioua & Tzeng 2007).

The travel industry has been a pioneer in the innovative use of Information Technology (IT)
(Feldman 2001; Gareiss 2001; Gareiss 2003; Kelemen 2003; Botha 2004; Ghobrial & Trusilov
2005). The airline industry is embracing cutting edge technology to gain competitive edge
(Jiang & Doukas 2003; Baker 2007). O’Toole (2004) predicts that air travel could become
world’s first web-enabled industry as online sales, e-tickets and range of new technologies gain
ground with increasing speed. The dramatic growth of web and self-service technologies
permit customers and airlines to bypass the complexity and cost of old legacy systems (McIvor,
O’Reilly & Ponsonby 2003; Shon, Chen & Chang 2003).

Researchers have employed Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate the effects
of individual dimensions of airline service quality (Cezard 1999; Kalamas, Laroche &
Cezard 2002); Park et al 2005, 2006; Ling, Lin & Lu 2005; Cassab & MacLachlan 2006).
Chang & Yeh (2001) suggested a multiattribute decision making model to measure and
compare overall competitiveness of airlines on five dimensions and their associated objective
performance measures. Danaher (1997) employed a method based on conjoint analysis to
determine the relative importance of service attribute measure in airline customer
satisfaction surveys
METHODOLOGY

The researcher collected the data from both the primary as well as the secondary sources.
The first part of the questionnaire contained demographic information like age, gender, marital
status, income, nationality, purpose of travel and number of times travel in a particular airline,
reason for choose etc. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of several rating scale to
capture the study's main variables namely: system of handling of luggage, efficient in check-in and
baggage handling, comfortable seats, quality food and beverages, on time performance, flight
schedule, in-flight entertainment, airlines packages and security related accidents. To evaluate
these information approaches taken by Tsaur, Chang, & Yen (2002), Gursoy, Chen & Kim (2005)
and Chang and Yeh (2002) were used. These approaches are chosen because they combine different
methodologies that measure service quality provided. Rating for each statement were captured on
a 7-point scale ranging from 1 "strongly disagree" to 7 "strongly agree". 1=very unimportant to 7=
very important and followed by the suggestions and recommendations from the passengers to the
airline companies. The geographical area for data collection was Airports of Northern region like
New Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jammu, Srinagar and Leh. The Information was collected from
who actually experienced the services from the selected airlines like Spice Jet, Indigo and Air India
Ltd. and is above 18 years of age.

The survey was carried out between February to August, 2014 by personally visiting these
airports. Total 900 questionnaires were distributed, 150 at one airport among the passengers at
departure hall of each above mentioned airport. Only 650 respondents filled questionnaires is
without any missing responses.

Descriptive statistics like Frequency, Mean and percentage were applied to analyze the
demographic information of customers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

REFERENCES

Aksoy,S., Atılgan, E., & Akıncı, S. (2003). Airline services marketing by domestic and
foreign firms: differences from the customers’ viewpoint. Journal of Air Transport
Management, 9: 343-351.

Alter, S. (2003). Customer service, responsibility, and systems in international e- commerce:

should a major airline reissue a stolen ticket? Communications of AIS,
2003(12), 146-154.

Anitsal, I. & Paige, R.C. (2006). An exploratory study on consumer perceptions of

service quality in technology-based self-service. Services Marketing Quarterly, 27(3),
53-67.

Baker, C. (2007, 15 June). Centre stage: IT trends survey 2007, Airline Business, Downloaded
from www.flightglobal.com on 3rd Sept’ 07.
Bejou, D. & Palmer, A. (1998). Service failure and loyalty: An exploratory empirical
study of airline customers. Journal of Services Marketing, 12(1), 7-22.

Bel, J.L.L. (2005). Beyond the friendly skies: An integrative framework for managing the air
travel experience. Managing Service Quality, 15(5), 437-451.

Berry, L.L., Parasuraman, A., & Zeithmal, V.A. (1988). The Service-Quality Puzzle. Business
Horizons, 31(5): 35-43.

Bigne, J.E., Martinez, C., Miquel, M.J., & Andreu, L. (2003). Servqual Reliabilityand Validity
in Travel Agencies. Annals of Tourism Research, 30(1): 258-262.

Bhatt, S. (1997). “The new aviation policy of India – Liberalization and deregulation”, Delhi.
Lancer Books.

Boland, D., Morrison, D. and O’Neill, S. (2003), “The future of CRM in the airline industry: A
new paradigm for customer management”, IBM Institute for Business Value, 2002.

Botha, J.H. (2004). Improving customer satisfaction and operational effectiveness with the
use of an ICT service management best practice framework: Action research in the
shared service centre. Oxford Brookes University.

Brooksbank, R (1994), "The anatomy of marketing positioning strategy", Marketing

Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 12 No. (4), pp.10-14.

Butler D. L. (2001). Deregulation, information technology, and the changing locational

dynamics of the U.S. airline industry. Ph.D Thesis. University of Cincinnati, USA
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ucin1000487876

Cary, D., (2004). A view from the inside. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management; July.
3, 2

Cassab, H. & Maclachlan, D.L. (2006). Interaction fluency: A customer performance measure
of multichannel service. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management, 55(7), 555-568.

Cerasani, R. A. A. (2002). Market structure and pricing relationships in the United States
airline industry. MS Thesis. University of Nevada, Ren.

Cezard, A. (1999). Determinant's of services expectations : An application to the airline

industry. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Concordia University.

Chang, Y. & Yeh, C. (2001). Evaluating airline competitiveness using multi-attribute decision
making. Omega 29. 405–415

Chang, D., & Lim, S. (2002). Measuring airline’s service quality : SERVQUAL or
SERVPERF? Annual Meeting Proceedings. Decision Sciences Institute .
Chen, I.J., Gupta, A. & Rom, W. (1994). A study of price and quality in service operations.
International Journal of Service Industry Management, 5(2), 23-33.
Chen, F.-Y., & Chang, Y.-H. (2005). Examining Airline Service Quality From A Process
Perspective. Journal Of Air Transport Management, 11: 79–87.

Chitnis, A. (2007). Satisfaction formation process for Iranian airline passengers.

Unpublished Master Thesis, Lulea University of Technology, Department of Business
Administration and Social Sciences, Division of Industrial Marketing and e- commerce,
ISSN 1653-0187.

Danaher, P.J. (1997) Using conjoint analysis to determine the relative importance of service
attributes measured in customer satisfaction surveys. Journal of Retailing, Volume 73(Z),
235-260,

Doganis, R. (2006). The airline business. London: Routledge.

Feldman, J.M. (2001). Airline IT goes to war. Air Transport World, Nov 2001; 38, 11

Franke1, M. & Hamilton, B.A. (2004). Competition between network carriers and low- cost
carriers—retreat battle or breakthrough to a new level of efficiency? Journal of Air
Transport Management 10 (2004) 15–21

Gareiss, R. (2001). How IT helped an airline recover. InformationWeek. Nov 19, 2001;
864

Gareiss, R. (2003). Technology takes to the air. InformationWeek. Apr 21, 2003; 936

Ghobrial, A. & Trusilov. A (2005). A perspective on information technology in the

airline industry. Journal of Transportation Law, Logistics, and Policy. 72(1), 71

Gilbert, D & Wong, R.K.C. (2003). Passenger expectations and airline services: A Hong
Kong based study. Tourism Management, 24, 519-532.

Gillen, D. & Morrison, W. (2002). Bundling, integration and the delivered price of air travel:
Are low cost carriers full service competitors? Journal of Air Transport Management,
9(1), 15-23.

Gkritza, K., Niemeier, D. & Mannering, F. (2006). Airport security screening and changing
passenger satisfaction: An exploratory assessment. Journal of Air Transport Management
12, 213–219

Gourdin, K.N. & Kloppenborg, T.J. (1991). Identifying service gaps in commercial air travel:
The first step toward quality improvement. Transportation Journal, 22-30.

Gursoy, D., Chen, M. & Kim. H.J. (2005). The US airlines relative positioning based on
attributes of service quality. Tourism Management 26, 57–67.
 Gustafsson, A., Ekdahl, F. & Edvardsson, B. (1999). Customer focused service development in
practice - A case study at Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). International Journal of
Service Industry Management, 10(4), 344-35

Heracleous, L., Wirtz, J. & Johnston, R. (2004). Cost effective service excellence:
Lessons from Singapore airlines. Business Strategy Review, 15(1) 33-38.

Hunter, J.A. (2006). A correlational study of how airline customer service and consumer
perception of airline customer service affect the air rage phenomenon. Journal of Air
Transportation, 11(3), 78-109.

Ishaq, M., I. (2012). Perceived Value, Service Quality, Corporate Image and Customer Loyalty:
Empirical Assessment from Pakistan. Serbian Journal of Management, 7(1): 25-36.

Jiang, H. & Doukas, L. (2003), Can customer-centric e-business system achieve competitive
advantage for airline industry? The Ninth Australian World Wide Web Conference, July 5-
9, 2003, Gold Coast, Australia.

Kalamas, M., Laroche, M. & Cezard, A. (2002). A model of the antecedents of should and
will service expectations. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 9, 291–
308

Kelemen, Z. (2003). Latest information technology development in the airline industry.

Periodica Polytechnica Ser. Transp. Eng, 31(1-2), 45-52.

Knibb, D. (2005). Service formula. Airline Business;, 21(12), 68-70.

Kozak N., Karatepe O.M. & Avci T. (2003). Measuring the quality of airline services:
evidence from northern Cyprus. Tourism Analysis, 8(1), 75-87.

Leone, K. & Liu, R. (2003). Measures of effectiveness for passenger baggage security
screening. Washington D.C.: Transportation Research Board.

Ling, F.I., Lin, K., and Lu, J.L. 2005. Difference in service quality of cross-strait airlines and
its effect on passengers’ preferences. Journal of Eastern Asia Society for Transportation
Studies, 6, 798-813.

Lioua, J.J.H. & Tzeng, G. (2007). A non-additive model for evaluating airline service quality.
Journal of Air Transport Management 13, 131–138

Manuela Jr, W.S. (2007). Airline liberalization effects on fare: The case of the
Philippines. Journal of Business Research 60, 161–167

Mazzeo, M.J. (2003). Competition and service quality in the U.S. airline industry. Review
Of Industrial Organization, 22, 275-296.

McIvor, R., O'Reilly, D. & Ponsonby, S. (2003). The impact of internet technologies on the
airline industry: Current strategies and future developments. Strategic Change; Jan/Feb
2003; 12, 1
Morrison, W.G. (2004). Dimensions of predatory pricing in air travel markets. Journal of
Air Transport Management 10, 87–95

Natalisa, D. & Subroto, B. (2003). Effects of management commitment on service quality to

increase customer satisfaction of domestic airlines in Indonesia. Singapore Management
Review, 25(1), 85-104.

O’Connell, J.F.(2005). Passengers’ perceptions of low cost airlines and full service carriers: A
case study involving Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines. Journal of Air
Transport Management 11, 259–272

O’Toole, K., Pilling, M. (2004). “IT trends survey 2004”, Airline Business, July 2004

Ostrowski, P.L., O'Brien, T.V. & Gordon, G.L. (1993). Service quality and customer loyalty in
the commercial airline industry. Journal of Travel Research 32; 16

Pakdil, F. & Aydin, O. (2007). Expectations and perceptions in airline services: An analysis
using weighted SERVQUAL scores. Journal of Air Transport Management,
13/4, 229-237.

Pant, M. (2006, September 16). Budget airlines not flying high. [Television broadcast].
New Delhi: CNN-IBN.

Park, J.W., Robertson, R. & Wu, C.L. (2005). Investigating the effects of airline service
quality on airline image and passengers’ future behavioural intentions: Findings from
Australian international air passengers. The Journal of Tourism Studies, 16(1), 2-11.

Park, J.W., Robertson, R. & Wu, C.L. (2006). The effects of individual dimensions of airline
service quality : Findings from Australian domestic air passengers. The Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service
quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49, 41-50.

Pham, K.Q.V. (2006). U.S. and European frequent flyers service expectations: A cross-
cultural study. The Business Review, Cambridge, 6,2.

Pham, K.Q.V. & Simpson, M. (2006). The impact of frequency of use on service quality
expectations: An empirical study of trans-Atlantic airline passengers. Journal Of
American Academy Of Business, Cambridge, 10(1),

Rhoades, D.L. & Waguespack, B. Jr (2005). Strategic imperatives and the pursuit of quality in
the US airline industry. Managing Service Quality, 15(4), 344-356.

Rust, R.T. & Chung, T.S. (2006). Marketing models of service and relationships.
Marketing Science, 25(6), 560-580.

Sayanak, T. (2003). Do low cost carriers provide low quality service?, Master Research Paper
Department of Economics, East Carolina University.
http://www.ecu.edu/econ/ecer/teja.pdf
Servitopoulos, F. (2002). The US airline deregulation and its effects on industry structure and
competition: How much did they affect the range, nature and frequency of airline services.
MBA Thesis. Glasgow Caledonian University - Scotland UK.

Shon, Z., Chen, F. & Chang, Y. (2003). Airline e-commerce: The revolution in ticketing
channels. Journal of Air Transport Management 9, 325–331

Sima, K.L., Kohb, H.C. & Shetty, S. (2006). Some potential issues of service quality reporting
for airlines. Journal of Air Transport Management 12, 293–299.

Sultan, F. & Simpson Jr, M.C. (2000). International service variants: Airline passenger
expectations and perceptions of service quality. Journal of Services Marketing, 14(3),
188-216.

Trapani, J.M. & Olson, C. V. (1982). An analysis of the impact of open entry on price and
the quality of service in the airline industry. The Review of Economics and Statistics,
64(1), 67-76.

Truitt, L.J. & Haynes, R. (1994). Evaluating Service Quality and Productivity in the
Regional Airline Industry. Transportation Journal, 33(4), 21-32.

Tsaur, S., Chang, T. & Yena, C. (2002). The evaluation of airline service quality by
fuzzy MCDM. Tourism Management 23, 107–115

Venkatesh, B. & Nargundkar, R. (2006). Service quality perceptions of domestic airline

consumers in India : An empirical study. Vilakshan, 3(2).

Young, C., Cunningham, L. & Moonkyu, L. (1994). Assessing service quality as an effective
management tool: The case of the airline industry. Journal of Marketing Theory &
Practice, 2(2), 76-96.
Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L., & Parasuraman A. (1996). The Behavioral Consequences of
Service Quality. Journal of Marketing, 60(2): 31-46