Operational/Manufacturing Strategy in Service Operations: A Case Study of SERVQUAL Model in Airline Company

Abstract

With the economic crisis in Asia, the airline companies must be more competitive in their service operations in order to stay in business. The first step to improving quality in service operations is to evaluate the existing level of service quality of the company. The company could then spend some of its limited resources to improve the service. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to illustrate how service quality could be assessed in an airline company. The company currently provides both domestic and international passenger transportation services. Interviewing with management and other staffs of the company, and the passengers by using structural questionnaires was carried out in this study. SERVQUAL model, which was developed by Parasuraman et al [1], is used to assess the level of service quality in their operations.  The results indicate that there is a need for cultural change, commitment of management team, and employee involvement to increase the customer satisfactions, which leads to enhance the competitiveness of selected Asian airline company. Finally, recommendations on re-designing existing service operations (reservation, before-flight service, onboard service, and after- flight service) was proposed.  It includes (a) providing more flight schedule, (b) conducting the business feasibility study on providing the low-cost airline, (c) providing more systems/facilities for safety and comfortable purpose, and (d) providing self-check-in or online check-in services.