Customer Satisfaction in the Airline Industry: Ryanair Case Study

This research proposal investigates customer satisfaction within the airline industry, specifically focusing on Ryanair. It begins with an introduction outlining the research topic, rationale, and research questions, including the impact of customer satisfaction with Ryanair. The objectives include examining customer satisfaction concerns, assessing satisfaction levels, and analyzing solutions. The literature review explores the importance of customer satisfaction, customer value, and satisfaction in the airline industry, specifically in the context of Ryanair. The methodology section details the research approach, design, strategy, data collection methods (quantitative approach using surveys and interviews), and sampling techniques. The proposal aims to identify customer perspectives and propose measures to enhance satisfaction, offering insights into service quality, pricing, and customer loyalty, and providing a framework for future research. The research employs both exploratory and descriptive designs, gathering data through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews to understand customer perceptions and views, providing valuable insights into customer satisfaction.

Research Proposal
Topic: Analysis of customer satisfaction in airline industry-A case study Ryanair
Airline
Travel and Tourism
Module Tutor: Mr. Bruno
Module Code: RMET6053
Student ID: 51682
1

Contents
Title..................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Rationale..........................................................................................................................................3
Research Question...........................................................................................................................4
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................8
Time-line........................................................................................................................................12
Reference List................................................................................................................................14
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Title
Analysis of customer satisfaction in airlines industry- A case study of Ryanair Airline
Chapter 1
Introduction
The research is the efficientlearning of sources for the purpose of establishing the actual facts
and reach new results. The research will be made on thetopic of Customer satisfaction in
airlines industry- A case study of Ryanair Airline.This research will entail the various factors in
order to get better the customer satisfaction in Ryanair, UK. These aspects are service quality,
assurance and occurrence to flight in week or month, and strategies of pricing. Furthermore, this
study gives the precise and dependable result due to use pragmatism philosophy and mixed
research method. This task recognizes the aspects that further to the process of research project
assortment (Ariffin, Salleh, Aziz and Asbudin, 2010).
Rationale
The role of the customer satisfaction keeps huge importance in the airline industry as there are
number of researchers that have shown the customer satisfaction in positive manner which
influence the profitability of the organization. Because of this, the results of customer
satisfaction and discontent should be focused in an effective manner for up gradation or whatever
to attain best productivity. According to David, (2013), customer satisfaction is entirely relied on
the attitude of the customer towards the service provider or an emotional reaction to the disparity
between what customers expect and what they attain, in relation to the completion of some need,
desire or aims. Wong and Musa, (2011), argued that customer loyalty is considered as the
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outcome of an organization to develop the advantages for a customer so that they will uphold
their purchase from the company.
In the context of Ryanair, it has been found that it was introduced in 1985 with a share capital of
1£ with 25 employees. The firs route was started from Waterford to London Gatwick and now it
has become popular airline in which around 67 million passengers served by Ryanair annually. It
has been found that there are many issues in Ryanair which become the cause of trouble for
many customers. Booking online tickets are the major issue for the customer which decreases the
satisfaction level of the customers from Ryanair (Ryanair, 2018). The recent problem in airline is
found that the number of customer is increased and the current resources are unable to satisfy the
customers. It is necessary for the airlines to focus on the development of the customer
satisfaction. It has been found that Ryanair is an effective option for people who want to travel at
affordable prices. It is necessary for the customers to acknowledge all conditions, and for less
experienced traveller, it can provide a lot of work to get recognizable with the rules (Thompson,
2018).
Ryanair Airline and Customer Satisfaction
Research Question
The research question is mentioned below:
 What is the impact of customer pleasure with Ryanair airline?
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Research Aim and Objectives
The research aim is to recognize the prospects of the clients and take suitable measures to fulfil
such prospects. Along with that another aim is to bring better understanding regarding customer
satisfaction in Ryanair.
The objective of this research is mentioned below:
 To examine the concerns in Ryanair regarding the customer satisfaction.
 Toassess customersatisfaction level regarding services provided by Ryanair.
 To analyze solutions to customer problemoffer byRyanair.
Potential Impact of this study for future research
This study will be helpful in providing future researchers with a depth detail in the context of the
customer satisfaction as it entails the various journal articles related to the proposed topic. The
comprehensive understanding can be made regarding making improvements in the customer
satisfaction such as better service quality, price fairness and accessibility. This research study
can facilitate in encouraging researcher to do further research beyond the topic by applying
different method of data collection.
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Chapter 2Literature Review
2.1 Importance of customer satisfaction
According toOnomo, (2016), there are many companies that put a lot of effort in keeping
customers and it is necessary for the companies to make a lot of effort in improving the stronger
loyalty with their customers. An organization that attains the customers within one week and
loses the similar amount of consumers the following weeks is a company that deals on the “leaky
bucket” business theory. According to this theory, company has a belief that there will always be
customers that replace the lost ones. Organization is to provide a safe low-fare flight but nothing
more than that and that is why it is called a no-frill airline. It is necessary for the organization to
offer lowest possible rates for the purpose of increasing the number of customers (Onomo,2016).
It has been found that there is a concept of zero of tolerance which anticipates that customers can
have many expectations of a service feature in number of levels. This model described that there
are a two levels of customer satisfaction which is a desired level and adequate level (Thompson,
2018). The desired level referred as the level in which the service could be, on the other hand,
the adequate level is the level of thinking of the customers towards the services. it has been
analysed that the expectations of the customers are not similar and the majority of the service
zone of tolerance says that it will fall in between the two levels.
2.2 Customer value and satisfaction in airline industry
Customers choose products that they think can provide the best customer value which is the
dissimilarity between customer value and the total customer cost.
Customer value
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The customer value is increased after examining the core product and the system of delivery. It
has been found that the cost of the customer can be physical costs and money (Chotivanich,
2014). For instance, airline passenger can select the straight charter flight in place of a low-fare
airline, although it is not cheap by cost. It has been noted that low-fare airline would be helpful
for the passenger to get connection between flights which consumes a lot of time of travelling.
This kind of activity increases the risk of absent the connection flight when the first flight is
delayed or cancelled. Ryanair low fare airlines have not policy to refund the amount in case of
any cancellation which increase the customer dissatisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction
According to Kim and Lee, (2011), there are number of aspects to customer satisfaction of
Ryanair like dependability, viability and accessibility. The role of these factors keeps huge
importance in amplifying the profitability. Service quality is a vital aspect which should be
considered by any kind of business to raise the benefits of the organization because it links with
the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
2.3 Customer satisfaction in Ryanair airline
Sukri, Abdullah and Waemustafa, (2014), supported this argument that there are number of tools
which are taken into consideration for the purpose of measuring the service quality tool named
SERQUAL and this kind of tool directly influences the customer satisfaction of Ryanair Airlines.
This measurement of quality entail five various dimensions such as sympathy, dependability,
tangibility, receptiveness and assurance. This tool is simple to operate by Ryanair airlines
organisations. It has been stated by this airline that the customer has to wait for booking for a
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long time which create dissatisfaction among employees. This tool is an inexpensive tool but it is
simple to operate.
Niinimaa, (2011), summarized that there are different techniques to develop the customer
satisfaction such as accessibility, convenience and price fairness. Price is considered as the major
factor which can influence the customer satisfaction. Consequently, it is found that Ryanair
airlines can indict the fair price to get better the clienthappiness and expand the client loyalty.
According toAriffin, Salleh, Aziz and Asbudin, (2010), the buying decision of the customer is
relied on the specific price and it affects the contentment level of the client. In such way, the
customer honestly prejudiced by the insight of price and not directly prejudiced by the justice of
the price. Subsequently, affair pricing policy can be effectual to improve the satisfaction level of
the customers. It is required for the management to consider the buyer decision process which
entails the need recognition, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision, Information Search,
and Post purchase behaviour.Relate this to customer satisfaction in Ryanair Airline.
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Chapter 3 Research Methodology
Research Method
There are two kinds of method of the research that is qualitative and quantitative method. This
research will entertain the quantitative method as it is helpful in collecting the data regarding the
proposed topic. The contribution of the research method in the chosen objectives is great as it
helps in collecting information with different approaches.
Research philosophy
The role of the research philosophy keeps huge importance in the research projects as it develops
the better understanding regarding the research concerns. Interpretivism and positivism research
philosophy will use under this research due to subjective nature of the research issues
(MorlandandBos, 2011). Positivism philosophy is taken into consideration for the purpose of
revealing the factual knowledge on the basis of the observations and measurements, which will
help to focus on the research concern on the basis of the statistical data.
Research Approach
Inductive and deductive are two kinds of research approach which allow researchers to
rationalize the employ of specific data collection and analysis process for projects. Deductive
approach is appropriate with the positivism philosophy, at the same time as inductive approach is
suitable with the interpretivism philosophy. For this research, Inductive approach is taken into
consideration and would be used to resolve the research issue (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault,
2015). With the help of this approach, the researcher would be able to develop the reliability and
validity of research outcomes.
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Research Design
There are three kind of research design which that considerably help researchers to decide the
design of a research project. Exploratory, descriptive and causal research are kinds of research
design in which both exploratory and descriptive research designs are chosen by the researcher.
The researcher is enabled to gather in-depth data regarding the customer satisfaction in Ryanair
airlines. It is the design which will help researcher to gather the data by observing the
perceptions and views of participants for the purpose of meeting the aim and objective of the
research questions (Panneerselvam, 2014).
Research Strategy
Research strategy is considered as the vital factors which help researchers to explore the research
issue by responding to the questions of the research in a systematic manner. With the help of an
effective research strategy, researcher gathers the background information and evaluates this data
for the purpose of developing specific conclusion (Matthews and Ross, 2014). Survey, which
isinterview research strategies are selected for this research because with the help of this
strategy, the researcher will be able to gather adequate amount of information and data related to
the customer satisfaction in Ryan Airlines.
Data Collection Method
Data collection is considered as the method that focus on the collection of the data in a
systematic manner by which the research objectives met. It helps researcher to gather the data in
order to improve the knowledge regarding the research issues which is an effective for drawing
the conclusion. Primary and secondary are two kinds of research resources in which primary data
is new and collected very first time by the researcher. On the other hand, secondary data can be
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collected through used material by which the researcher can easily obtain the determined
objectives (Tarone, Gass and Cohen, 2013). The researcher will select both data collection
methods by which the researcher can make direct interactions with participants for the purpose of
knowing their views regarding the research issues. There will be two methods used in this
research i.e. survey through questionnaire and face-to-face interview methods.
Sampling
Sampling strategy considers as the selection of suitable applicants for the studies with the
purpose of reply the research questionnaire for achieve research objectives (Mackey and Gass,
2015). Probability and non-probability are two method of sampling strategies which facilitates
researchers to plump for the definite observations from distinct population. Both sampling
strategies will be used under this research in which random sampling strategy will use to choose
the participants for survey questionnaire. For this, 10 customers will be selected to observe the
satisfaction services of the customers of airlines.
Convenience sampling method will be used which come under the non-probability sampling
strategy. This method will be taken into consideration for the purpose of selecting the
participants of interview which is based on their knowledge, experience and skills. For this, 2
employees of management of Ryanair airlines will be selected to conduct face to face interview
with them.
Data Analysis
Data analysis helps researcher to develop reliable and valid results regarding the research issues.
In this issue, there are a variety of data analysis methods such as, statistical analysis,
conversational analysis, thematic/content analysis, and disclosure analysis to facilitate a good
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