Identifying Airport Service Quality Driving Factors: A Case of an International Airport in Bangkok

Abstract

            Thai airports need to look at their service quality and passenger satisfaction to become an aviation hub of Asia. Managing Airport Service Quality–ASQ is not an easy task especially when a large number of travelers from budget airlines (Low-Cost Carrier or LCC) outpace the increment and renewal of airport facilities.  Quite often, airports have to provide services for a large number of passengers on a limited budget. This study investigated a case of an international airport in Bangkok serving annually around 38 million passengers--mainly LCC. The management of the airport seeks to identify factors that yield passengers’ overall satisfaction of the airport. The research objectives were to (1) uncover service quality rated by passengers of the studied airport, (2) identify factors that yield overall satisfaction of passengers, (3) uncover other factors that might help improve the service quality rating, and (4) propose evaluation guidelines for the airport to improve its service quality.

            A self-administration survey was conducted with 341 domestic and international passengers using quota sampling in the fourth quarter of 2018. The survey collected data on service items in five categories: (1) Venue and Ambiance, (2) Effectiveness of the Accessibility and Directions Guiding (3) Efficiency of Process Activities, (4) Discretionary Activities , and (5) Quality of Interaction with Service Personnel. The results showed that all service components are significantly and positively correlated with overall passengers’ satisfaction with the airport.  It was noted that the most important service component was  “venue and ambiance,” while the least correlated service component  “efficiency of the process  activities.”  In addition, ten interviewed Thai regular passengers, who rated the service quality low,  revealed their undifferentiated expectation of services of airports serving LCC and those serving full service airlines. Mood was also found to be a contributing factor of low rating of service quality. From the obtained findings, the researchers recommend evaluation guidelines for the airport to improve its service quality.

 Keywords:  Airport service quality, driving factors: international airport, Bangkok