MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between airline service quality, passengers’ satisfaction and loyalty towards Ethiopian Airlines. SERVQUAL model was used to measure the perceptions and expectations of passengers ’ on the services received from Ethiopian Airlines. The five dimensions of SERVQUAL, i.e. reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness were used to measure the service quality of Ethiopian Airlines. Through the identification of 21 service quality indicators a questionnaire containing 47 items was developed. According to the findings of this study, the passengers were dissatisfied with all five dimensions of service quality. The most dissatisfied dimension was reliability with the highest service gap score. Three dimensions i.e. tangibles, assurance and reliability of service quality positively affected the passengers ' level of satisfaction and among those dimensions, assurance has the strongest effect on the level of customers ' satisfaction. It was also indicated that passenger satisfaction plays an important role in enhancing passenger loyalty. The findings of this study will help Ethiopian Airlines to redefine their marketing strategy to one that is customer-focused and emphasizes on service quality. It will also be important for other African Airlines to identify the dimension of service quality most preferred by the passengers’.