Search results

Health risks associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have severely affected the financial stability of airline companies globally. Recapturing financial stability following this crisis depends heavily on these companies’ ability to attain efficient and productive operations. This study uses several empirical approaches to examine key factors contributing to carriers sustaining high productivity prior to, during and after a major recession. Findings suggest, regardless of economic conditions, that social distancing which requires airline companies in the Asia Pacific region to fly with a significant percentage of unfilled seats weakens the performance of those companies. Furthermore, efficient operations do not guarantee the avoidance of productivity declines, especially during a recession.

With an increasing air cargo demand in the global air cargo transport industry, not only domestic airlines but also foreign carriers are actively investing in the air cargo service sector and trying to provide a differentiated service in order to gain a competitive advantage. There are a variety of service quality models available but most research to date has not found an optimal model for the air cargo service sector.

Using questionnaire data collected from air freight forwarders in Korea with respect to the air cargo service provided by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and foreign carriers(JAL or China Eastern), this paper compares four models in measuring the service quality in the air cargo sector and identifies the best model. We then analyze the weakness of each airline’s service operation and make suggestions for improvement.

For demonstration analysis, the survey of domestic air cargo forwarders revealed that Reliability>Responsiveness> Supply ability>Security in important order in air cargo service quality dimension. In the context of this paper, we considered four models-unweighted SERVQUAL, unweighted SERVPERF, weighted SERVQUAL, and weighted SERVPERF–for our investigation into which is the most suitable model in the air cargo service sector with testing of goodness of fit by three criteria. Our results indicate that the most suitable model for the air cargo service sector is the weighted SERVPERF model.