Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Airlines

This assignment delves into the crucial relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction within the airline industry. It requires students to examine a collection of scholarly articles and online resources that investigate this topic. Key areas of focus include understanding the dimensions of service quality, measuring customer satisfaction in airlines, and identifying factors influencing customer perceptions. Students will analyze research findings, case studies, and industry trends to provide insights into how airlines can enhance service quality and ultimately drive customer loyalty.

Research Project

Table of Contents
TOPIC: ............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications.................................1
1.2 The potential factors that contribute to the process of research project selection.................2
1.3 A critical review of key references.......................................................................................3
1.4 A research project specification............................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

TOPIC:
“To identify the role of operational department in increasing the satisfaction of
customers. A study on Wizz air.”
INTRODUCTION
In travel and tourism industry the success as well as failure of any business depends over
the quality services offered by its players and level of customer satisfaction. This is because
being a service industry it is very essential for a company to keep its customer happy as well as
satisfied with offering of company in order achieve sustainability in such competitive
environment (Ali, Dey and Filieri, 2015). Under this report the selected organisation for
investigation is Wizz Air company which offer travel related services to around 60 destinations.
It is headquartered in Budapest Hungary and is considered to be the largest fleet of Hungarian
airlines. This investigation is based on the role of operational department in increasing the
customer satisfaction. In order to conduct this report both primary as well as secondary data will
be used so that findings could be more accurate and researcher would be able to present
conclusion of research much effectively. In addition to this current report also includes a
description about several tools and technique used to gather, interpret and present data in more
effective manner.
1.1 Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications.
Customer satisfaction plays a crucial role within the growth as well as success of an
organisation specially in relation with the travel and tourism industry. This will also support a
company to maintain a loyal customer base which in turn also help in achieving competitive
edge at marketplace (Farooq and et. al., 2018). The current report is based on Wizz Air which is
a low cost airlines with its headquarter in Budapest, Hungary. It serves around 44 countries and
over 60 destinations. The Wizz air company belongs to travel and tourism industry in which
customer satisfaction have an huge influence over the growth as well as sustainability of
organisation.
Hence, in increasing the customer satisfaction operational department plays a crucial role
because this unit put more emphases toward improving the quality of services by ensuring the
timely delivery of services. Effectiveness in work of operational department also support in
reducing the factors that leads to dissatisfaction of customer such as delay in flight, improper
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hygiene, non availability of attendants at customer demand etc. The main reason behind
conducting this report is to determine the role of operational department in improving the
performance as well as practices performed within the company (Hussain, Al Nasser and
Hussain, 2015). In addition this by the conduction of investigation it would become easier to
recommend the ways in which operational department practices can be improved. Apart from
this researcher would be able to enhance its knowledge regarding the role of customer
satisfaction in growth and sustainability of travel & tourism organisation.
Aim:-
To identify the role of operational department in increasing the satisfaction of customers.
Objective
 To determine the concept of customer satisfaction in context of travel and tourism
organisation.
 To identify the influence of operational department in improvising offerings of Wizz air
 To analyse the role of operational department in maximizing customer satisfaction in
Wizz air.
Research questions
 Explain about the concept of customer satisfaction in context of travel and tourism
organisation?
 What is the influence of operational department in improvising offerings of Wizz air?
 Describe about the role of operational department in maximizing the customer
satisfaction in Wizz air?
1.2 The potential factors that contribute to the process of research project selection
A research is represented as a systematic exploration related with the specific area of
investigation and sources so that different facts can be implemented in order to reach over final
outcome. The investigation is basically depend over some specific elements which instruct the
research over right direction by managing all the activities effectively (Choi, Lee and Olson,
2015). Current research have some specified area over which the result of investigation depends
these areas are explained below along with their systematic implementation in research area:
Introduction:- This is one of the most essential part of investigation which provide an
overview regarding the topic of research as well as reason behind its conduction. In addition to
this it also elaborates about the manner in which this investigation will be performed and areas
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that would be covered throughout the report. This will help a reader to a gist about the research
and issue over which the investigation is based.
Literature review:- This is a second important part of a research which includes a critical
evaluation of previously performed and published information in articles, books and journals for
providing an understanding over particular area of concern (Han and Hyun, 2015). This further
support researcher in presenting its fact regarding particular topic by evidencing it from the
previously searched data.
Research methodology:- This section includes a detail description about several tools
and techniques used in order to conduct the investigation in fruitful manner. This help researcher
in collecting and examining the information in more effective manner for presenting appropriate
findings.
Data Analysis:- This is the main part of investigation where collected data would be
interpreted in order to accumulate information in the light of research objectives and questions. It
provide a broader region of learning to investigator for directing an investigation over the
information which is gathered through primary sources.
Conclusion and Recommendations:- This is the last part of investigation work in which
the summary of whole report is presented in term of findings as well as conclusion of
investigation. This help in determining the recommendation regarding the particular issues in
order to improve the practices or overcoming those problems.
1.3 A critical review of key references.
This is one of the most crucial part of research that provide an appropriate theoretical
evaluation with the help of information that gathered through secondary sources. In this
information is gathered through sources like online articles, journals, books and many more
(Yeh, 2014). The information gathered through these sources are more beneficial as it provide
an understanding regarding the topic by evidencing the fact through previously investigated and
published sources.
The concept of customer satisfaction in context of travel and tourism organisation
As per the view point of Valentina Della Corte, Clelia Cascella and Mauro Sciarelli,
2015, customer satisfaction also been considered as an essential objective of each organisation
because it has been assumed that a satisfied customers would repurchase the goods or services.
This in turn also support a company to develop a loyal customer base which support it in
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enhancing its productivity as well as profitability at marketplace. In travel and tourism industry
customer satisfaction plays a crucial role in increasing the customer loyalty, lower transaction
cost, reduce price elasticity, improve the capacity of attracting new customers, having direct
impact on customer retention and help in developing strong reputation in marketplace. Thus,
customer satisfaction is considered as a essential indicator of overall performance of tourism
organisation. Within the tourism industry achievement of customers satisfaction is very complex
due to increase in global competition. This is because there are number of players which in
tourism sector which operates their business operations at global level which in turn create more
pressures over them regarding the up-gradation of technologies or bringing new things for
providing more valuable services. As a result of which it creates competition in front of other
players within the industry because values offered by service providers grab one another' s share
which make it difficult for other players to sustain in such competitive market.
Hence, customer satisfaction plays a crucial within the travel and tourism industry as it
help an organisation to achieve sustainability and competitive advantage at marketplace. By
getting high level of customer satisfaction a tourism organisation be able to maintain a base of
loyal as well as regular customer. This is because the quality of services and value which an
organisation offers is directly related with the satisfactory level of consumers as at the time of
travel people usually demand for comfort and worth services. This in turn also support a
company to get positive word of mouth publicity by its customer as by getting services as per the
expectation they also suggest their reference group, relatives and friend to avail services from the
same organisation. This in turn help in increasing the customer base as well as goodwill of
company at marketplace which very essential for the growth as well as profitability of tourism
organisation.
Influence of operational department in improvising offerings of Wizz air
According to the view point of Pranay jhunjhunwala, Jean Lee and patricio Ramos, 2016,
the performance of operational department within airlines has a broad as well as deep impact
over the entire performance of an organisation. As good On time performance requires many
people as well as functions to perform well coordination regularly and overtime. But when the
action performed by the operational department within the airline companies like Wizz air it hits
profits, costs, customer experience and employees morale. Hence, Wizz air Airlines have to face
very tough time in getting their arms around on-time performance and how to manage this with
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good reason. The complexity arises during the working of operational department includes fleet
size and composition, flight turnaround time and flight crew composition, these all affect the
performance as well as issues for Wizz air. These issues can be overcome by improving the
practices performed by the operational department as it is main part of Wizz air company which
ensures the timely arrival and fly of flights. Hence in order to improve the service offering, Wizz
air must focuses toward improving the activities performed by operational department.
Following are the influence that operational department will have over improvising of Wizz air
offerings: Help in avoiding delays:- In order to improve the quality of service offerings, operational
department of Wizz air must focuses toward well-executing operational procedures by
predictive maintenances. This will enable maintenance router in identifying that whether
an aircraft require attention before a technical problem arises in front of them that lead to
delay. In addition to this quality work from operational department also help Wizz Air in
quick adjustment to flight and maintenance of schedule can also be limited to
downstream impact at the time of disruption. Delay recovery:- An effective team working within the operational department also help
Wizz air in getting quick delay recovery. This is because delay are inevitable which can
only be resolve and effect can be minimized with the help of expertise in operational
department which work toward addressing problems quickly and minimizing its impact
through proper system. It can be improved proper guidelines and procedures that help in
prioritising actions that help in managing the extent and impact of disruption. Hence it
help in improvising the offering of Wizz air as customer don't face situations which leads
dissatisfaction among them regarding the services offered by company.
Role of operational department in maximizing the customer satisfaction in Wizz air
As per the views expressed by Laurie Wickham, 2013, Operations department is
considered as the most imperative part of an organisations, thus the overall operations of
business are executed by the operational department. Operational department has direct
connection with the growth and success of business at commercial level. In this modern business
era the potential motive of each small as well as large business enterprises is to reducing
conflicting business objectives and attaining higher growth and success. In the aviation industry
the major concern of each business is to attaining higher competitive edge through maximising
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the level of customers satisfaction. The operational department of Wizz air is effective in
increasing customers satisfaction by making improvement in their offerings, thus now a day's
people are very much concern about the quality of product rather than the quantity of goods and
services.
However the staff member of operational department of Wizz air are trained for
providing easy and effective services to their significant customers and buyers for the purpose of
retaining them for long run of business operations. The major role performed by operational
department of Wizz air is making rapid growth for the firm by increasing the satisfaction level of
customers, thus the operations department of firm is concern over making changes in their
functions and operations as per the needs and wants of customers, because satisfaction of
customers is the primary aspect for the attainment of growth and success.
1.4 A research project specification
The research work is based on determining the role of operational department in
increasing the satisfaction of customers within Wizz Air company. It is a biggest airline
company within the Hungary and to maintain its position and goodwill in such competitive
environment customer satisfaction is very crucial for the company's sustainability (Chiang and
Wu, 2014). A research project specifications plays a crucial role systematic management of
research activities throughout the investigation in appropriate manner. This is because an
appropriate outlines specification provide a direction to the researcher so that it would be able to
perform all the activities in effective manner in order to reach upon appropriate outcome.
The present research work is based on qualitative investigation because in order to
present this issue theoretical framework is very crucial which help in developing understanding
of readers in this area by providing them a deep information about the issue. Apart from this
descriptive research design will be used in this investigation which help in getting a detailed
information through qualitative research (Hawkins, 2017). In addition to this for evaluating the
information gathered through fitting facts, interpretivism philosophy will be used. However, in
the current research work both primary as well as secondary sources has been used to gathered
the information in order to collect large amount of actual and reliable information. Primary
sources of data collection are suitable for collecting the fresh and relevant information but on the
other side secondary sources are suitable for assisting the section of literature review by
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gathering data from sources like journals, books, online sites and many more (Manhas and
Tukamushaba, 2015).
1.5 An appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ali, F., Dey, B.L. and Filieri, R., 2015. An assessment of service quality and resulting customer
satisfaction in Pakistan International Airlines: Findings from foreigners and overseas
Pakistani customers. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management. 32(5).
pp.486-502.
Farooq, M. S. and et. al., 2018. Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in Malaysia
airlines: A PLS-SEM approach. Journal of Air Transport Management. 67. pp.169-180.
Hussain, R., Al Nasser, A. and Hussain, Y. K., 2015. Service quality and customer satisfaction
of a UAE-based airline: An empirical investigation. Journal of Air Transport
Management. 42. pp.167-175.
Choi, K., Lee, D. and Olson, D. L., 2015. Service quality and productivity in the US airline
industry: a service quality-adjusted DEA model. Service Business. 9(1). pp.137-160.
Han, H. and Hyun, S. S., 2015. Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of
quality, satisfaction, trust, and price reasonableness. Tourism Management. 46. pp.20-
29.
Yeh, Y. P., 2014. Exploring the impacts of employee advocacy on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment: Case of Taiwanese airlines. Journal of Air Transport
Management. 36. pp.94-100.
Chiang, C. F. and Wu, K. P., 2014. The influences of internal service quality and job
standardization on job satisfaction with supports as mediators: flight attendants at
branch workplace. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 25(19).
pp.2644-2666.
Hawkins, F. H., 2017. Human factors in flight. Routledge.
Manhas, P. S. and Tukamushaba, E. K., 2015. Understanding service experience and its impact
on brand image in hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 45. pp.77-87.
Online
Corte.V. D., Cascella. C and Sciarelli. M., 2015. Customer satisfaction in tourist destination.
[Online] Available through:
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273757514_Customer_satisfaction_in_touris
t_destination_The_case_of_tourism_offer_in_the_city_of_Naples>./
Jhunjhunwala. P, Lee. J and Ramos. P., 2016. Improving Airlines’ On-Time Performance
[Online] Available through: <https://www.bcg.com/publications/2016/operations-
improving-airlines-on-time-performance.aspx>./
Wickham. L., 2013. Maximizing customer satisfaction while optimizing performance. [Online]
Available through:
<https://community.verint.com/b/customer-engagement/posts/maximizing-customer-
satisfaction-while-optimizing-performance>./
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