A Comparative Study of Service Quality (Passenger Handling) between Jet Airways and Air Deccan : A Descriptive Exploration

Abstract

The very essence of airline survivability is the services and facilities provided. However with the introduction of cheap frills discounted airline, Air Deccan, the need of sen/ice quality itself is being questioned. Are the passengers' more receptive towards price rather than sen/ice quality when it comes to flying domestically? The purpose of this survey is to explore the passenger's views on service quality provided by the Jet Airways and Air Deccan that they experienced. Chang and Yeh's (2002) modified model of SERVQUAL was used in this study while integrating Parasuraman et. al. (1985) original five-point Likert scale. The study was conducted in the departure hall of Mumbai Domestic Airport. The respondents consisting of 180 passengers of whom have had experience with both airlines were selected based on purposive sampling. Descriptive analysis and mean comparison were used to analyze the data. There were two main findings in this exploration. First both of the airlines do not meet the services quality standard expected by the passengers. Secondly, majority of the respondents participating in this study, during this duration and route, choose price over service quality.