A modified VIKOR multiple-criteria decision method for improving domestic airlines service quality

This study applies a modified VIKOR method to improve service quality among domestic airlines in Taiwan. Our model allows decision-makers to understand the gaps between alternatives and aspired-levels in practice. A large sample is used to establish a complete service quality evaluation framework for reducing the gaps to achieve the aspired-level. We then applied the modified VIKOR method to establish the gaps in priorities between alternatives and aspired-levels. Finally, based on these gaps in priorities, we provide managerial implications to improve different carriers for satisfying the customers’ needs to achieve the aspired-level.     

Improving service quality using quality function deployment: The air cargo sector of China airlines

Recent-rising crude oil prices have impacted on the development of the air-freight industry making improved service quality and competitiveness— pressing issues for management. To examine the performance of China Airlines this paper employs quality function deployment to integrate inside quality technology and the voice of outside consumers, and using “House of Quality” charts, illustrates the company's performance in terms of service and offer suggestions for improvement. The conclusion shows, in terms of outside consumer voice, the three main factors demanding improvement and the three in greatest need of improvement regarding quality technology.     

A novel interval-valued fuzzy MCDM method for improving airlines’ service quality in Chinese cross-strait airlines

This paper presents an effective approach based on combining VIKOR, GRA, and interval-valued fuzzy sets to evaluate service quality of Chinese cross-strait passenger airlines via customer surveys. The proposed approach can enable decision-makers to understand the gaps between alternatives and aspired levels. An empirical study is used to establish a complete service quality evaluation framework for reducing the gaps to achieve the aspired level. Based on the gaps in priorities, it can help an airline to identify its own strengths and weaknesses in specific areas of passenger service to further improve service quality.     

A productivity comparison of the world's major airlines

This paper measures and compares productivity and unit cost of the world's 23 major airlines using yearly panel data (1986–1993). An extensive effort was expended to put together a reliable database. These data are then used to accomplish the following: first, unit cost per unit of aggregate output is measured and compared. The effect of input price changes on the unit costs are also examined. Second, the ‘gross’ Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is measured and compared. In order to compare true productive efficiency across airlines and over time, a ‘residual’ TFP index is computed after removing effects of the variables beyond managerial control such as average stage length and composition of outputs. Log-linear TFP level, and TFP growth rate regressions are used to accomplish this task. Our results show that:

1. (a) during the sample period (1986–1993), the major European carriers and the carriers in newly industrialized countries in Asia have achieved significantly higher productivity growth than their North American counterparts;

2. (b) as a result, the productivity gap between North American and other carriers have diminished significantly;

3. (c) however, on average, the North American carriers still enjoy higher productive efficiency than the carriers in Asian NICs and European carriers, but the gap is closing very rapidly; and

4. (d) it is observed that, over time, the productive efficiency of carriers competing in the same markets tends to converge.

Finally, Asian NIC carriers clearly enjoy unit cost advantages over other major carriers. Our results show that European aviation liberalization which began in 1987 appears to have produced substantial productivity gains.     

On load balancing strategies for baggage screening at airports

We study load balancing policies for an airport baggage handling system (BHS). The performance of the screening subsystem is important as it can potentially cause traffic congestion of the whole BHS during peak period. Currently, the round-robin (RR) and the first-available (FA) polices are implemented at airports. This paper presents a simulative approach to evaluate the impact of load balancing policies on the system performance. Using discrete-event simulations, airport practitioners can assess the effectiveness of the policies according to the actual layout of a particular passenger terminal. In addition to the RR and FA, a join-shortest-queue (JSQ) policy is introduced. This scheme can be applied jointly with the RR for daily operations. A case study is presented to illustrate the characteristics of this scheme. Simulation results demonstrate that the RR-JSQ can replace the existing RR-FA for a better balanced load distribution and improve the overall system performance.     

An analytic hierarchy process for ranking operating costs of low cost and full service airlines

This paper develops an application of the analytic hierarchy process to rank the operating cost components of full service and low cost airlines. It takes into account the financial balance sheets and answers to a questionnaire submitted to the managers of selected airlines. The results suggest that the analytic hierarchy process can be appropriately used to obtain the ranking of the costs taking into account different views: financial, management and operative. Rental, office equipment and other supplies costs show the highest importance in the cost ranking, both for full services and low cost airlines. The robustness of the results is tested by Monte Carlo analysis.     

Impact of landing fees on airlines’ choice of aircraft size and service frequency in duopoly markets

A one-shot simultaneous game-theoretic model is applied in a duopoly market to investigate how airport landing fees could influence airlines’ decisions on aircraft size and service frequency. It is found that higher landing fees will force airlines to use larger aircraft and less frequency, with higher load factor for the same number of passengers. It is also found that airlines will be better off if some of the extra landing fees are returned to airlines as a bonus for airlines using larger aircraft, which consequently reduces airport congestion.     

The influence of tourists' expectations on purchase intention: Linking marketing strategy for low-cost airlines

Drawing on an integrated framework of marketing strategy, this study develops and tests a novel perspective for low-cost airline tourists that explicates the critical attributes of service quality through which Corporate Reputation (CR) and Word of Mouth (WOM) are associated with purchase intention. The study also examines the buffering role of empathy in tourists' purchase decision making processes. In a sample of 535 international and domestic tourists, this study found service quality to be related to increased purchase intention by boosting tourists' positive evaluations for airlines' corporate reputations and word of mouth received from other tourists. Additionally, the results demonstrated a positive correlation quality of service and WOM, depending on tourists' levels of empathy. Specifically, they suggested that WOM was positively related to purchase intention when high levels of empathy from tourists were perceived for the low-cost airline.     

构建第三方物流企业服务质量评价体系的研究

第三方物流企业提供的是服务,服务质量是企业之间竞争的关键。针对服务质量对第三方物流企业的重要性,介绍构建评价指标体系的意义和原则,并在此基础上建立第三方物流企业服务质量评价指标体系。     

铁路行包快运节点等级划分及布局方法研究

铁路行包快运节点的等级划分是其布局优化的基础,针对目前节点等级划分大多依靠经验而不够客观的问题,采用重要度计算和聚类分析的方法,对全国行包快运节点的等级进行划分,并在此基础上给出节点布局的方法和建议。     

基于旅客评价的客运服务质量影响因素分析

从旅客评价的角度来研究影响客运服务质量的因素。对收集整理的旅客评价信息,运用因子分析法筛选出主要影响因素,并通过最优尺度回归模型对影响程度进行量化分析;对旅客评价信息中的人为干扰因素进行分析和认定,最后结合客运业务工作的实际对结论进行佐证。     

An investigation of service quality,customer satisfaction and loyalty in China's airline market

Customer loyalty is a source of competitive advantage and an important intangible asset to any organisations, but empirical evidence from China's airline market regarding the determinants of passenger satisfaction and loyalty is lacking. This paper investigates the service quality of four major airlines in China's domestic market and explores the links between their service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as the conditions under which airlines can retain existing passengers. In line with previous studies, service quality variables are significant factors influencing customer satisfaction levels. However, satisfactory service was not found to result in higher customer loyalty among business travellers. In comparison to Hainan Airlines, passengers who travelled with Air China, China Southern and China Eastern were more likely to switch to an alternate carrier, indicating lower levels of brand loyalty. In addition, the frequent flyer programs (FFPs) have been largely a failure for the four major airlines in terms of increasing customer loyalty, as revealed in this study. It is necessary to draw distinctions between business and leisure travellers when studying the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Ticket pricing had a positive and significant effect on passengers' overall satisfaction and in turn strengthened customer loyalty among leisure travellers, but achieved no impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of business passengers. Some demographic variables such as gender, income and education are statistically significant for one group of passengers but not for another in the probit models estimated. It is suggested that different marketing strategies may be used to target different market segments to improve customer loyalty.     

Business travellers' perception of service quality: a prefatory study of two European city centre hotels

The business traveller contributes significantly to the turnover of the hotel industry and, with the globalisation of business, this sector shows signs of increasing growth. Service quality has now become one of the main factors used to gain competitive advantage, thus the industry must focus more specifically on the needs and expectations of its business customers. The aim of this paper is to focus on the business travel market and more specifically on the comparison of two hotels in two European cities, Brussels and Manchester. This area of research has not been attempted before and will provide an interesting comparison with findings in USA. A literature review identified the relevant attributes used to measure service quality, which were utilised to design a questionnaire, distributed to customers in a five star hotel in Manchester and in Brussels. The primary data obtained were then compared with the findings of other researchers. The analysis indicated that Brussels scored the majority of the attributes more highly (many significantly) than did Manchester. This may be influenced by the international profile of the Brussels respondents who tended to travel on business more frequently than the Manchester sample. The comparisons with the USA surveys found some inconsistencies that might be attributed to societal differences.Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of airline service quality on passengers’ behavioural intentions: a Korean case study

This paper seeks to improving our understanding of air passengers’ decision-making processes by testing a conceptual model that considers service expectation, service perception, service value, passenger satisfaction, airline image, and behavioural intentions simultaneously. For this testing, path analysis via maximum likelihood estimator is applied to data collected from Korean international air passengers. Service value, passenger satisfaction, and airline image are each found to have a direct effect on air passengers’ decision-making processes.     

Influence of perceived service fairness on relationship quality and switching intention: an empirical study of restaurant experiences

Restaurants and dining out are an important part of the tourism industry and are a major business in their own right. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived service fairness, relationship quality, and switching intention in fine dining restaurants. Data were collected through a convenience sampling method from 164 customers from only fine dining restaurants in the northern region of West Malaysia (Kedah, Perak, Penang, and Perlis States). Unlike all previous studies which have focused exclusively on the role of justice in service failure and recovery, this study considers all-inclusive service delivery contexts. The results of this study showed that all the dimensions of perceived service fairness have a significant relationship with switching intention. In addition, perceived service fairness has a positive relationship with trust in all dimensions except for outcome fairness. Moreover, the results found that among the perceived service fairness dimensions, only procedural fairness and interactional fairness had a positive relationship with commitment and price fairness; outcome fairness was not related to commitment. Finally, the results confirmed the negative and significant relationship between relationship quality (trust and commitment) on switching intention. Managerial implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

The effect of service quality and satisfaction on destination attractiveness of sub-Saharan African countries: the case of Ghana

This paper examines the functional forms of service quality (SQ) and satisfaction in relation to destination attractiveness. It focuses on the varying influence of destination characteristics, customer economics, and demographic variables to explore how SQ might be used to improve value positioning and, therefore, potential attractiveness of Ghana as a destination choice for tourists. Using methods triangulation data collection protocol, the paper finds causal links between SQ and selected composites of destination attractiveness (destination attributes, support services, facilities, and people-related factors) in the degree to which they influence customer satisfaction and return-visit intentions. The paper contributes refreshing insights useful for segmentation marketing, tour planning, and product/service development. The implications are far-reaching when considered alongside the fact that Ghana is relatively a new entrant into the organised tourism marketing arena and has the consequent imperative to scale-up structural and human capabilities to compete effectively with the more established global competitors.     

A combined MCDM model based on DEMATEL and ANP for the selection of airline service quality improvement criteria: A study based on the Taiwanese airline industry

The aim of this study is to select airline service quality improvement criteria for the Taiwanese airline industry. Numerous factors such as low railway prices, the development of high-speed rail, increases in petroleum prices, increases in foreign airline competition, and the recent economic depression have led many airlines in Taiwan to encounter financial difficulties and even closure. Researchers have begun to identify critical service quality improvement criteria with the goal of increasing the competitive advantages of airlines. Most of the selected criteria, however, suffer from a major technical problem: all of the measurement dimensions are independent, leading to inadequate criteria for measuring service quality. Our calculations consider the interrelationships and effects among the evaluation dimensions and criteria to precisely rank and select criteria. The value of this study is that it provides airlines with a direction for measuring and improving their service quality with the goal of developing sustained competitive advantage over the long term.     

The impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context: a study on tours to Isla de la Plata,Ecuador

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the impact of daily tour service quality on tourist satisfaction and behavioural intentions in an island context. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the analysis of data collected from 195 participating in a daily tour to Isla de la Plata (Ecuador) showed that all the services examined (transportation by boat, food and beverage, tourist guide and visits) had a significant direct impact on tour satisfaction, having the transportation the highest impact. Moreover, the indirect effect of the daily tours services on behavioural intentions mediated by the satisfaction with the tour was also significant.     

以健全提速安全保障体系为重点确保铁路运输安全持续稳定

总结铁路第六次大面积提速调图取得的阶段性成果,深入分析提速安全面临的新情况和新变化,动员全路干部职工深入探索提速安全规律,加快健全提速安全保障体系,深化安全基础建设,确保第六次大面积提速持续安全稳定,为全面深入推进和谐铁路建设、实现铁路又好又快发展创造良好环境.     

从高速铁路工程测量标准看铁路工程测量技术的进步

通过对《高速铁路工程测量规范》技术要点的总结,从＂三网合一＂、分级布网、GPS替代导线测量、轨道控制网等方面分析了铁路工程测量技术创新点,阐述了高速铁路工程测量技术体系较传统测量方法的进步,是我国高速铁路工程建设的技术基础和有力支撑。