Service quality in the US airline industry: progress and problems

Abstract

After over a decade of cost cutting, US airlines are turning their attention to issues of quality. This study examined the service quality of 26 US airlines for the period 1987‐1996 using data from the Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report. The results indicate that there has been improvement in the service quality of the industry overall, although most of it occurred during the early part of this study. Further, there are significant differences between the service quality of major and regional airlines. Regional airlines performed much worse on all measures of service quality.

Citation

Rhoades, D.L., Waguespack, B. and Treudt, E. (1998), "Service quality in the US airline industry: progress and problems", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 306-311. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604529810235763