Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, 2020; Vol 19 (Issue 3): pp.

3562-3573
http://ilkogretim-online.org
doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2020.03.735520

Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the

Airline Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-
Arabia)

Syed Waleed Ul Hassan, Research Scholar, Qurtaba University Peshawar, [email protected]

Dr. Samina Gul, Assistant Professor,Women University Swabi, [email protected],
Dr. Kiran Jameel, Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences, Hamdard University, Karachi,
[email protected]
Dr. Ch. Shoaib Akhtar, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Dr. Shaheryar Naveed, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

ABSTRACT- Objective: The research study aimed to investigate the prevailing competitive
environment in the airline industry.By comparing the compare service quality of threedifferent
airlines (PIA, Oman Airline, and Air Arabia) using the SERVPERF model.Background: Observing
the competitive landmark of the airline industry, the airlines concentrate on the need to analyze
the customers’ demands and provide services according to their demands. Method: A total of
150 customers were selected randomly to collect the data through self-administered
questionnaire. The statistical reliability and validity of each questionnaire were tested through
Cronbach’s Alpha and factor analysis with positive responses. The research applied ANOVA,
correlation, and regression to predict the results.Results: The results declared that PIA shows
significant means for empathy while insignificant for tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, and
assurance. Oman Airline showed a significant mean for assurance dimension of service quality
while insignificant for tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy. While for Air Arabia
the results declared a significant mean for tangibility, assurance, and insignificant mean for
responsiveness, reliability, and empathy. Conclusion: The detailed analysis has proved that
service quality in the form of tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy is
the most important contributor to the satisfaction of customers of the Airline Industry.

Keywords: Service Quality, Competition, Reliability, Tangibility, Responsiveness,

Assurance, Empathy

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background
The commercial aviation sector, in the last three decades, has become an important catalyst, in
the economic growth and development of nations. The aviation industry assists 2.7 trillion US
Dollars and 3.6% in the total gross domestic product (GDP). Aviation transportation facilitates
close to 4 billion passengers annually and 62 million tons of freight to domestic and
international destinations and has assumed a significant role in the faster and convenient
movement of passengers and goods in n3ational economies. Besides, it is providing immense
employment opportunities and enabling about 29 million people to earn their bread and butter
from commercial aviation. The growing importance of aviation, in the economies of various
countries, has resulted in creating a highly competitive environment. This, in turn, requires that

3562 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
the airlines provide high-class amenities to their passengers’ resultant increase in their profits.
The quality of facilities has always been important for the existence and competitiveness of
airlines (Chen, 2008). The service quality results in the long-term increase in passenger
satisfaction and in turn client’s trustworthiness, which is the antecedent of cost savings,
increased market share, and improved profitability. The travelers are not satisfied with
provided service quality and are not expected to have a long-run relationship with the
respective airline (Lin & Wu, 2011). Standards of service quality influence a company’s
comparativeness and help to retain customer support and market shares (Park, Roberston&Wul,
2004; Morash&Ozment, 1994). Therefore, customer loyalty is always regarded as important for
any organization (Reichheld & Schefter, 2000: Rauyruen& Miller, 2007). Client loyalty has been
the rational interactive answer of travelers pleased with the provision of superior value. (Oliver,
1999; Parasuraman & Grewal, 2000; Lee, Lee, &Feick, 2001)
Holding customers and evolving relationships with new customers are one of the key business
strategies. Business growth depends on frequent visits of a customer for any business and the
most effective way to increase customer’s visits is to provide the service quality that meets and
customer’s expectations. Similarly, in the airline industry, it is needed to keep its service quality
up to the mark to attract and retain customers in the existing competitive surroundings. There is
a lot of recognition in the researched writings that service quality has proven significant in the
attainment and maintenance of market share and return on investment goals for an
organization. (Anderson &Zeithaml 1984; Philips, Change &Buzzel, 1983). The substantial part
of the overall responsibility for the improvement of service quality rests upon the employees
detailed to contact and deliver to the passengers. Church and Stum (1990) call such customer
service employees “corporate ambassadors" Which is most important to make travelers’ loyalty
and organizational image. So, therefore, the association between customer and service provider
is considered an important aspect of satisfaction and quality because services are normally
treated with large social components (Crosby & Stephens 1987; Brown & Swartz 1989; & Crosby
1991).
Keeping in view, the relationship between an airline and its passengers, the prevailing standards
of service delivery needs to be overhauled for the satisfaction of the customer. The analysis
would help in identifying grey areas contributing negatively towards customers’ satisfaction and
charting appropriate responses to ensure customer satisfaction. To attain this goal, the focus on
service quality in PIA, Air Arabia, and Oman airline should, not be on its delivery only, rather the
service should be delivered in a manner that generates and manages customer’s traveling
records with the airlines as a brand. The service quality of PIA, Air Arabia, and Oman Airline
must not be confined to more providing traveling facilities. Passengers should be made to feel
like a special guest rather than an ordinary traveler. The people should experience something
special the moment they get to the Airline while going through the checking countries boarding
the Aircraft, the way food is served, its quality and taste during flights, entertainments, the
texture of massage seats. All the facilities must maximize the delight of the passengers.
In case PIA manages to revamp its service provision to the complete satisfaction of customers,
there is a fair possibility for the national airline to achieve a strategic competitive position in the
industry. Similarly, if Air Arabia successfully provided its service quality to satisfy the customers
it would help them to attract and retain a larger number of passengers than any other airline,
moreover if customers’ are satisfied with the services of Oman Airline they would be able to get
the competitive advantage over other high-cost airlines in the same territory.

3563 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
Theoretical framework

Hypotheses
H0. Tangibility has no significant effect on the customers’ satisfaction
H1. Tangibility has a significant effect on the customers’ satisfaction.

H0. Reliability has no significant effect on customers’

satisfaction H2: Reliability has a significant effect on the
customers’ satisfaction. H0. Assurance has no significant effect
on customers’ satisfaction H3. Assurance has a significant
effect on the customers’ satisfaction.

H0. Responsiveness has no significant effect on customers’

satisfaction H4: Responsiveness has a significant effect on the
customers’ satisfaction. H0. Empathy has no significant effect on
customers’ satisfaction.
H5: Empathy has a significant effect on the customers’ satisfaction.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Services in the Airline Industry

The best example of the above assertion is the emergence of less expensive Airlines which pay
the way for the mushroom growth of many new Airlines which alter the existing strategies of
already established Airlines business. There is another feature called “heterogeneity” which tells
us that there is always a contrast between two seemingly similar businesses because different
personalities having divergent mindsets are involved in their establishment (Zeithaml & Bitner,
1996). This all hinges on the people who offered the services and those who avail them
3564 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
(Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985). Hence keeping the behavior of employees unchanged
and retaining the quality of services is an uphill task (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). In the case of
Airline, customers have to interact which a handful of people hence the conceived notion
regrind the standard of service is directly related to the expertise of the latter to fulfill
expectations of the former (Alotaibi, 2015).
Another difference between goods and services is the inevitable dependency on service
production and consumption. Consumption and production of service mostly go hand in hand,
therefore, customers are part and parcel of these processes (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996).
Resultantly quality is ensured only when there is proper coordination among service providers
and customers (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985). The involvement of customers is a must
to have enhanced service quality (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). Another significant aspect is
“perishability” which means that services are something that cannot be saved nor stored, resold,
or restored. Due to this factor, it is incumbent upon the service providers to foresee the
potential demands and devise their strategy to meet them. In addition to that, they must have
contingency plans to make for damage control in case of any disruption in the plan. This is also
essential to secure the interest of the customer.

2.2 Service Quality

The standard of service or product is recognized as a “driving force for improved
competitiveness, customer satisfaction, and profitability” (Edvardsson, 1992). Service standard
has got too much importance due to its effect on customers’ satisfaction (Leonard & Sasser,
1982; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Chang & Chen, 1998; Gummesson, 1998; Silvestro & Cross, 2000;
Newman, 2001; Suresh Chander et. al., 2002; Guru, 2003). Organizations give service quality a
priority while designing a marketing strategy to achieve a competitive position (Levitt, 1981;
Parasuraman et. al., 1985).
The perception of end-users regarding the high quality of products is usually admitted as an
essential instrument to retain people’s confidence in any brand (Zeithaml, Bitner, &Gremler,
2009). A better service standard is an essential prerequisite for the establishment and
flourishing of any business unit. Because it has a bearing on shaping customer’s purchasing
behavior. It also influences the overall performance of any organization (Zeithaml, Berry, &
Parasuraman, 1996).
Service quality was defined by different authors in their way
“Customers define what the company's quality standards shall be”. (Parasuraman et al. 1985)
• “Quality is about all the things which consist to satisfy needs and wants”. (Edwards, 1968)
•The level and degree of the product which satisfies the consumer wants and it is the degree
regarding the specific product conforms to the design or specification”. (Gilmore, 1974)
• “Service quality reflects about a measure which states that how well the service delivered can match
the
expectations of the customers”. (Lewis and Booms 1983).

3565 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
Source: Lai, Griffin, and Babin (2009)
The definitions mentioned above clearly indicate the association between service standards and
customersatisfaction.

2.3 SERVPERF Scale

Cronin and Taylor (1992) studied the SERVQUAL scale and redeveloped the questions
explaining service quality (Jain & Gupta, 2004). They gave a developed version of SERVQUAL
claiming that it didn’t define the performance part of the service standard (Cronin and Taylor,
1992). They emphasized the fact that usually, customers don’t have expectations until they
experience the service quality, and hence they don’t expect anything from the firm in advance
(Gurbuz et. al., 2008). Cronin and Taylor (1994) Established the SERVEPERF scale, which was
based on performance lately backed by most of the scholars (Burch et al., 1995; Oliver, 1993).
Hence the SERVPERF model is used in measuring the service standard in almost every firm
giving services to the customers (Yılmaz, 2011).
These can be conditional from the research work performed by Cronin and Taylor (1994);
Burch et al. (1995).
a. Cronin and Taylor (1994) said that in 1992 they had this study to develop the
SERVPERF scale that emerged from SERVQUAL and has defined service quality significantly.
b. Cronin and Taylor (1994) used five points Likert scale to assess service standards in
regression analysisthe same as SERVQUAL.
c. Cronin and Taylor (1994) explored the SERVPERF scale can be defined to measure reliability
and reliability the same as SERVQUAL. Although criticism on Servperf, they practiced it in four
basic service sectors (e.g., banking, insect control, dry-cleaning, and fast-food). They claimed
that SERVPERF is a developed model for calculating only the performance rather than studying
the gap between expected and real performance (Jain & Gupta, 2004 (Yılmaz, 2011). Cronin and
Taylor (1992) defined five dimensions of service quality for analyzing the performance
specifications.

2.4. Connecting the SERVPERF model of Service quality with the Airline industry
The study of previous studies recognized that the service quality of an airline has many qualities
grouped in various stages of the service delivery process, such as pre-flight, in-flight, and post-
flight stage, etc. Each service quality is one of the dimensions of airline quality. Each service
quality attributes belong to one of the service quality dimensions which are the mainstay of the
3566 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
model. However, few alterations in the dimensions can be made to suit the environment of
research as was done and tested by Gilbert and Wong (2003). A theoretical framework of airline
service quality that emerged from this review is conceptualized as below:
Tangibility: Up to date equipment, visually appealing facilities, well-dressed employees, latest
facilities.
Reliability: Respond within the time frame, reassuring when a problem arises, punctuality, and
dependable, correct record.
Assurance: Safety (in-flight), politeness (reservation, pre, during, and post-flight), employees
have support to do their job, employees are trustworthy.
Responsiveness: Efficient service, well in time, and quick information to the customer,
employees willing to help in response to the request.
Empathy: Individual attention to customers, the anticipation of customer needs, convenient
timings of flights, the best interest of the customer in employees’ minds.

2.5. Customers’ Satisfaction

Review and need of Customer satisfaction of the literature in the earlier segment have defined,
that service standard achieves client’s satisfaction by service distribution of an entities’
employees. Therefore, service quality is achieved when there is a harmonious and fruitful
relationship between service providers and clients.
Hence the relationship between the customers and employees is a significant benchmark to
assess quality and satisfaction (Brown & Swartz 1989, Crosby 1991, Crosby & Stephens 1987,
Solomon et al. 1985, Swartz & Brown 1991). Front line employees must understand customers’
wants and being the company’s ambassadors to construct customer satisfaction. Since in the
services sector, the behavior of those who are offering services is the result of whatever the
customer consumes, therefore, entities must utilize all their capabilities to nourish and intensify
inter satisfaction. The element is key in framing the purchasing interest of customers It is a
behavior that stems from the experience of the customers (Mittal & Kamakura, 2001). Kotler
and Armstrong (1996) define customer satisfaction as “a person’s feeling of pleasure or
disappointment resulting from comparing a product or service’s perceived performance
concerning his or her expectation” (Kotler, 2003). Hence satisfaction of a customer is
intimately linked with his desires and expectations. Sometimes a person experience services
which are above the level of his expectations. This difference is called real customer
satisfaction. Numerous factors influence a person’s satisfaction like imagined service quality,
client’s perception, mindsets, emotions, interaction in society, and others (Rust and Oliver,
1994). Personal skills of its front line employees.
Various yardsticks are used to assess satisfaction. (Cronin and Taylor, 1992) calculated service
satisfaction on single commodity sale that is the end-users' overall feelings towards the
organization service. In this study, we define customer satisfaction as a claim (Crosby &
Stephens (1987), (Oliver & Swan 1989, Bitner & Hubbert 1995) claim service satisfaction takes
place at different levels, such as satisfaction with the contact person, satisfied with the core
services experienced and satisfaction with the company overall.
2.6. Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Cronin and Taylor (1992) discovered experimental help for the possibility that apparent
assistance quality prompted fulfillment and contended that administration quality is a
forerunner of buyer fulfillment (Cronin, Brady, and Hult, 2000; Anderson, Fornell and Lehman,
1994). Consumer loyalty is regularly observed as a multidimensional build along with similar

3567 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
measurements that comprise administration quality (Sureshchandar, Rajendran, and
Anantharaman, 2002).
Despite solid connections between administration quality and consumer loyalty, the two
developments are in truth not the same as the client's perspective (Baker, 2013). Brady and
Cronin (2001) attempt to explain the determination and nature of the administration quality
and fulfillment development and discovered exact help for the conceptualization that
administration quality was a precursor of the superordinate fulfillment build. In the avionics
business, Huang (2009) states that administration quality influences consumer loyalty and that
consumer loyalty influences client conduct, including repurchase aim and verbal.
Correspondingly, Yunus, Jamil, and Rashid (2013) contend that the nature of administration
conveyance via carriers significantly affects consumer loyalty, which thusly, altogether
influences client dedication. These discoveries confirm Retnaningsih (2013) accommodation.
Moreover, Chou, Liu, Hung, Yih, and Han (2011) assess carrier administration quality in a
Taiwanese aircraft and found that dependability and affirmation are the principal significant
measurements, responsiveness is the second, sympathy the third pursued by physical assets and
flight design. Different elements of aircraft administrations incorporate security, client objection
taking care of, the kindness of group, on-time takeoff and appearance, solace and tidiness of
seats, adaptability, cordiality, and genuineness (Hynes and Dredge, 1998). Furthermore, Wang,
Shu, Lin, and Tseng (2011) inspect nine assessment criteria of service quality in the carrier
organizations and found that travelers are more worriedabout solace, inside adornment, and the
administrations of aircraft organizations.

III. METHODOLOGY

For the current study of examining the service feature of the airline business and their
customers’ satisfaction positivism (quantitative approach) is used because positivism helps
relies on reliability uses of research instruments (Blaxter, Hughes, & Tight, 2006). For the
current research, positivism is applied.

The population N for the research in hand is all the customers traveling through PIA, Oman
Airline, and Air Arabia to study the service quality and customers’ satisfaction.Customers from
different airlines are selected randomly through a random sampling technique. The number
decided was 150 customers 50 from each airline (Nunnally,1967; Schreiber et. al., 2006) ten
elements for every parameter to be estimated is anacceptable value.Then the conceptual
framework was operationalized using 5 point scale starting from strongly agree to strongly
disagree. Data was collected through close-ended questionnaires and statistical analysis was
performed by ANOVA and regression.

IV. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

A sample of 150 respondents was equally divided among the three airlines. 50 respondents for
PIA, 50 for Oman Airline, and 50 for Air Arabia. For descriptive Statistics application, the gender-
wise distribution is analyzed at first.

Table 4.1: Gender wise distribution of respondents

Airline Frequency % Valid % Cumulative %
Female 18 36.0 36.0 36.0
PIA Male 32 64.0 64.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0
Female 20 40.0 40.0 40.0
Oman Airline Male 30 60.0 60.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

3568 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
 Female 26 52.0 52.0 52.0
Air Arabia Male 24 48.0 48.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

The overhead table demonstrates the number and percentage of male and female respondents
in the three airlines. The result shows that the percentage of males was more than female for
PIA, similarly, for Oman Airline the result shows high percentages of males than females, while
for Air Arabia the response percentage of females is more than males.

4.2. Age-wise Distribution of respondents

After analyzing the gender distribution, age-wise distribution is considered for further details

Table 4.2:

Airline f % Valid % Cumulative %

less than 25 9 18.0 18.0 18.0
25-35 14 28.0 28.0 46.0
PIA Valid 35-45 21 42.0 42.0 88.0
more than 45 6 12.0 12.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0
less than 25 7 14.0 14.0 14.0
25-35 12 24.0 24.0 38.0
Oman Valid 35-45 19 38.0 38.0 76.0
Airline more than 45 12 24.0 24.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0
less than 25 5 10.0 10.0 10.0
25-35 22 44.0 44.0 54.0
Air Arabia Valid 35-45 12 24.0 24.0 78.0
more than 45 11 22.0 22.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

4.2. Quality Dimension

Table 4.3:

Dimension PIA Air Arabia Oman

Airlin
e
Tangibility
Q1 4.76 4.80 4.84
Q2 3.28 3.36 3.20
Q3 3.84 4.34 4.08
Reliability
Q4 3.24 2.94 3.80
Q5 4.46 4.18 4.44
Q6 4.28 3.98 4.22
Responsiveness
Q7 4.68 4.30 4.54
Q8 4.62 4.20 4.58
Q9 3.08 2.20 3.12

3569 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
 Assurance
Q10 2.58 2.94 3.48
Q11 3.70 3.24 3.98
Q12 4.14 3.86 4.48
Empathy
Q13 4.18 4.28 4.62
Q14 4.16 3.52 4.34
Q15 4.08 3.46 4.12
The above table indicates the average score of each item of the Service Quality dimension for
Pakistan Airline, Air Arabia and Oman Airline.For tangibility average score of Oman Airline was
upper than other Airlines for question 1 for the second and third question average score of Air
Arabia was upper than the rest. For reliability mean score of Oman Airline was higher than the
rest of the Airlines and the second and third question mean score of PIA was greater than the
other companies for responsiveness. The mean score of the first and second questions was
higher in PIA and the third question meansthe score was higher in Oman airline. For assurance,
all three mean scores of Oman Airlines were higher than others. For empathy, all three mean
scores for Oman airlines were higher than the rest of the

4.3. ANOVA
4.4.

ANOVAa
Airline Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 31.061 5 6.212 13.772 .000b
PIA 1 Residual 19.847 44 .451
Total 50.908 49
Regression 34.469 5 6.894 18.122 .000c
Oman Airline 1 Residual 16.738 44 .380
Total 51.207 49
Regression 18.072 5 3.614 7.838 .000b
Air Arabia 1 Residual 20.290 44 .461
Total 38.362 49
a. Dependent Variable: satisfaction

b. Predictors: (Constant), empathy, Tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness

The above table describes that whether model is statistically significant and the results clearly
indicated that models for all airline were statistically significant having p-value of 0.00

2.7. Regression Coefficients

Airline Model Unstandardized Standardized T Sig. Collinearity Statistics

Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF
(Constant) .318 .121 2.621 .012
Tangibility .123 .162 .115 .756 .454 .384 2.607
PIA .058 .122 .062 .476 .637 .522 1.916
3570 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
 reliability .286 .225 .251 1.274 .209 .228 4.380
responsivene .281 .181 .271 1.553 .128 .290 3.445
ssassurance .554 .129 .474 4.309 .000 .731 1.368
empathy
(Constant) -.031 .099 -.312 .757
Tangibility -.148 .154 -.141 -.963 .341 .344 2.905
Oman reliability .127 .191 .121 .665 .509 .223 4.478
Airlin responsivene .094 .191 .098 .492 .625 .188 5.319
e ssassurance .459 .156 .446 2.945 .005 .323 3.094
empathy .173 .173 .142 .998 .324 .367 2.723
(Constant) -.099 .114 -.868 .390
Tangibility -.363 .113 -.435 -3.215 .002 .657 1.523
Air reliability -.102 .180 -.097 -.564 .575 .411 2.433
Arabi responsivene .062 .205 .059 .303 .763 .320 3.128
a ssassurance .456 .167 .464 2.735 .004 .417 2.399
empathy .006 .121 .008 .048 .962 .481 2.078

a. Dependent Variable: satisfaction

b. Predictors: (Constant), empathy, assurance, Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness

The above table shows comparisons of the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in the
three airlines under consideration derived models are

PIA

Customer Satisfaction = 0.318 + 0.554 empathy

Oman Airline

Customer Satisfaction = -0.031 + 2.945Assurance

Air Arabia

Customer Satisfaction = - 0.099 - 3.215tangibility + 0.456Assurance

For PIA the results indicate that empathy has a statistically significant positive effect on
customer satisfaction with a p-value of 0.000. While for Oman Airline the results indicate that
assurance has a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction with a p-value of 0.005 and
for Air Arabia the results portray that tangibility has a statistically significant negative impact on
customer satisfaction and assurance has a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction
with p-value 0.002 and 0.048 respectively. Variance inflation factor (VIF) which is used to detect
strong multicollinearity shows that there is no strong multicollinearity among explanatory
variables.

V. DISCUSSION
A comprehensive review of existing research work highlighted that there is a dire need to
identify the role of service quality of Airline Industry that is almost unaddressed by previous
researchers and to compare different airlines in terms of service quality to know what gaps are
left indifferent airlines for the achievement of customers’ satisfaction and indirectly to maximize
profit. Most of the studies conducted previously were limited to one airline or have used
different models(Khan &Fasih, 2014, Kaura, et al., 2012). The research in hand focused on
national i.e. PIA as well as international airlines i.e. Oman Airline and Air Arabia in terms of
3571 | Syed Waleed Ul Hassan Impact of Service Quality on Customer’s Satisfaction in the Airline
Industry (A case study of PIA, Oman Airline and Air-Arabia)
service quality using the SERVPERF model. With concern to the inspiration that service quality
possesses on the satisfaction of the airline customers, the results declared that SERVPERF
dimensions possess a positive relationship with the satisfaction of customers in the airline
industry. Satisfaction is the main invented by the employees, due to the reason that they are the
major part of the productions or service provisions. Prices, airline responses, airplane
environment and equipment, the image of the airline in terms of satisfaction, the policy of
luggage and baggage, are the other matter that causes customers satisfaction at first. When
customers pay more money they want the services according to the price which they paid, and if
they don’t get the right services they get unsatisfied(Naik et al., 2010; Wisniewski, 2001; Curry &
Herbert, 1988; and Zeithaml, 1988). Service quality is also evaluated by the appearance of the
aircraft and their condition if the airplanes are in good conditions customer feels more satisfied
and vice versa because they have to stay in that environment during the whole flight. The
customer gets attracted to the airlines by the image of the airline in general, which sometimes
increases the expectations of the customers. Receiving the customers by the cabin crew is also
one of the drivers for satisfying customers. The on-time flight service, the on-time landing and
the response to problems are also the value-added to service quality. The findings of this
research confirm the results of the researches conducted previously(Hossain, 2012; Juwaheer,
2004).

VI. CONCLUSION
Observing the competitive landmark of the airline industry, the airlines concentrate on the need
to analyze the customers’ demands and provide services according to their demands so that
they would be able to attract, retain and maintain their passengers in long run. To address the
concern mentioned above, the current study is conducted to identify the impact of service
quality provided by International Airlines (PIA, Oman Airline, and Air Arabia. The detailed
analysis has proved that service quality in the form of tangibility, assurance, responsiveness,
reliability, and empathy is the most important contributor to the satisfaction of customers of the
Airline Industry. The comparison of 3 international Airlines highlighted that all 5 factors of
service quality, empathy for PIA, assurance for Oman Airline and Tanginility+assurance for Air
Arabia has a positive significant effect on their customer’s satisfaction. Altogether, the study
offers a significant contribution to the body of knowledge regarding service quality and
customers’ satisfaction with PIA, Oman Airline, and Air Arabia. As well, this study is quite
significant for Policymakers to improve services accordingly.

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