Abstract
In the context of the keen competition environment, a number of airline companies have recognised the importance of identifying existing and potential weaknesses toward customers' perceptions of service quality. In order to gain a competitive advantage, service quality has been actively measured and assessed as an effective strategy. Although plenty of researches for measuring service quality are executed in the various fields, further empirical researches are still required in the airline industry. The main aim of this research is to identify the relationship among the service quality, customer satisfaction and behaviour intention in the airline industry in Korea, one of the dynamically growing countries in terms of air traveller numbers. This research, specifically, will consider such customer perception of service quality by comparing Korea Air and Asiana Airlines passengers. The objective of this study is i) to measure service quality of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines by passengers; ii) to identify whether customers' perceptions of service quality affect customer satisfaction and behavioural intention; and iii) to investigate whether customers' perceptions of service quality vary according to the airline company. It is to assess service quality of large airline companies from the customer's point of view with survey data with two leading airline companies in Korea: Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. The results showed that customers' perceptions of service quality have positive influences on customer satisfaction and behavioural intention in the airline industry. As another result of this research, it was concluded that customer satisfaction has positive influences on behavioural intention. Moreover, it was concluded that there are significant differences in customers' perceptions of service quality between Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. The results of the research have several managerial implications. First and foremost, it is the most important that customers' perceived service quality affects to customer satisfaction and behavioural intention. Moreover, customer satisfaction also has positive influences on behavioural intension. Therefore, managers of the airline companies should put all their efforts for enhancing service quality.