Service Quality Management in the UAE Airports - Research Paper Example

Name: Institution: Service quality management in the UAE airports Tutor: Course : Date: Table of Contents Service quality management in the UAE airports 1 Table of Contents 2 Service quality management in the UAE airports 4 Abstract 4 Aim 5 Objectives 5 Applied text 5 The aviation sector in UAE 5 Academic text 8 Airline Consumer Satisfaction 8 Service quality conceptual models 10 During the past two decades, service quality has turn out to be a main factor drawing the attention of researchers managers and practitioners, owing to its strong influence on customer satisfaction, gaining higher profit, return of investment, performance and lower costs. The expedient competition and development of service quality in both developing and developed countries has made it imperative for companies to evaluate and measure the encounters of quality service. A variety of models of conceptual have been put forward by different researchers for the main aim of measurement of service quality. It is predicted that service quality conceptual models give the management the opportunity to point out problems concerning quality and consequently prepare for the introduction of a program for quality improvement, and therefore improving the efficiency, overall performance and profitability. Some of the models that are influential in the literature of service management are based on the concept of the gap of service quality. This is the difference between the perception of the service and the customer expectations. If performance is less than the expectations, then the quality perceived is below satisfactory and customer dissatisfaction happens. In the recent past, more focus has been placed on comprehending the goal of expectations owing to the fact that expectation of the customer of quality is experiencing an increase and human beings are turning out to be more critical and discerning of the service quality that they experience (Rhoades, 2006). 10 Service quality gaps model by parasuraman et al. 11 Internal service quality model 12 Internal service quality model was developed by Kumar and Frost. The model is concerned with evaluation of dimensions and their various relations which influence service quality gaps in the internal customers and internal suppliers in a large service organization. The gaps include: the discrepancy in perception of support staff of expectation of frontline staff, difference between specifications of service quality and the actual service quality delivered (Rhoades, 2006). 12 Model of service quality gaps by Layton and Luk 12 Service quality and service quality management 12 Literature review 13 The expectations of the passengers of services in the airport 13 Airport Industry 15 Marketing in the airports 17 Quality Services Management at Emirates Airport 18 Special services at Emirates 18 First Class Lounge in Dubai 19 Business Class Lounge in Dubai 20 Management of service quality at Emirates 21 Conclusion 22 Linkages between applied and academic context 22 Further research 22 Bibliography 23 Service quality management in the UAE airports Abstract This paper explores the fundamental area of service quality management with a special focus in the United Arabs Emirates. It has specifically narrowed down to service quality management operational at the Emirates and other special services that are being offered by the airline to maintain a competitive advantage. Heung, Wong, and Qu, (2000), note that regardless of the shrinking economy in many parts of the world, Middle East airlines have continued to witness an expansion. The sector has seen a significant growth in the previous ten years. Service quality management has been an arrear that has been greatly exploited by the airlines to maintain a competitive age over the others. In this paper the service quality management exercise will be discussed, generally development in the aviation sector in the Middle East and more importantly how service delivery is carried out in some of the UAE Airports to ensure the intended feedback is obtained from service quality management. This is an area that can hardly be ignored in the service delivery sector if the firm has to gain a competitive advantage. The area of service quality management will be extensively explained in the paper. Aim To have an in-depth evaluation service quality management in the UAE Airport Objectives To find out from literature publication concerning service quality management To develop a framework for fulfilling the Aims and objectives To determine efforts targeting service quality management in UAE To explore the size and nature of aviation sector in the UAE To examine the framework of UAE. Applied text The aviation sector in UAE The aviation sector has been very instrumental in the growth of United Arab Emirates economy. Aviation accounts for twenty percent of the total GDP and with the oil reserves proceeds going down, the aviation sector has taken the lead in strengthening the economy. Just like other Middle Eastern economies the United Arab Emirates is shifting focus from the oil reserves to other sectors and the aviation sector has played a major role in this. In the first quarter of the year 2010 the aviation sector growth was registered at 11.5 percent, and has steadily grown at a faster rate as compared to the global average growth (Pugh et al., 2002). The government of the United Arab Emirates has categorically stated that it will invest AED 500Billion in the aviation sector over a period of the next ten years. Etihad Airways did maintain a steady growth in the previous year of 2010. During the financial year ended 30th September 2009, Emirates posted a profit growth by a margin of US$205million. The airline transported over seven hundred thousands tones of cargo and thirteen million passengers. Besides, it upped route frequencies, launched two other new destinations and bought new aircraft to strengthen its fleet. Emirates and Etihad face competition from allover the world and Middle East airlines which include Gulf Air, Air Arabia, Oman Air, Qatar AIRWAYS, Jazeera Airways, Saudi Arabian and Royal Jordanian Airlines. Air Arabia in the recent times has announced posting a net profit of US$92 in 2009 in a period of nine months. This was a significant improvement of six percent as compared to what was posted in 2008 over the same period. 2.96 million Passengers were served by the airline over the period that is mentioned above. This is an increase of fourteen percent as opposed to the 2.6million passengers served in the previous year. From March to September 2009 seventy nine percent was recorded as the seat load factor. In the year 2010 a third hub was launched in Egypt that serves the Middle East, Africe and Europe. Gulf Air carried out a realignment programme in the year 2010 having in mind the target of being commercially viable by the year next year. A view that is structured enabled the airline to re-enter the market of Iraq and realize costs streamlining. Gulf air also expended its operations to over twenty other new destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Some close to fifteen routes are meant to be closed or suspended and ensure efficiency. Jazeera Airways was reported as the airline in the Middle East that was growing very fast as compared to others. It is also the 10th largest carrier operating from Dubai international Airport. In 2009 third quarter financial period it carried 582, 490passengers. This was a growth of sixty five percent as compared to the previous year during the same period where 353,572 passengers were flown. Quarter profits amounted to US$2.7 million and thirty aircraft have been ordered. Oman Air in the year 2009 new markets were launched in Indian Ocean and in Europe. It has also ordered aircraft of the type of Embraer 175. It has also invested multi million dollars for technology contracts, maintenance, overhaul and repair. Oman Air launched a US$10million campaign in advertising. Royal Jordanian posted a net profit of US$36 during a period of nine months in the year 2010. It also experienced a reduction in operational costs of twenty percent. It has also been reported that the airline is not planning on launching new routes in the region. Royal Jordanian is targeting to increase frequencies and improve schedules. Moreover it is considering code-share agreements and merger deals together with exploring new markets. Saudi Arabia Airlines secured its first Airbus A320 In the last months of the year 2009. It has a plan to modernize its fleet to gain entry to other markets. New aircraft are intended to being deployed on the routes connections to the subcontinent of India and Europe continent joining the hub of the airline in Jeddah and Riyadh. Private aviation firms have been given the mandate of developing Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh and including the land around them to cities of the airport with plan for service agencies, commercial offices, malls, hotels, and conference halls. As it can be seen there is increased competition from every quarter and consequently the government of the United Arab Emirates has every reason of pumping more many into the development of the aviation sector (Mangold et al., 1999). Academic text Airline Consumer Satisfaction As opposed to three consecutive years of plummeting, customer satisfaction in airline in North America improved remarkably registering over ten airlines improving. This is regardless of the difficult economic times that were witnessed recently. Difficulties in financial base saw most of the airlines increase the fee they were charging with a considerable margin to cushion themselves against loss. These times also witnessed two major airlines merging. Customer satisfaction in the year 2010 improved tremendously with a margin of 15points as compared to that of 2009. The improvement is attributed to increase in satisfaction with in-flight services and fees and cost in the year 2010. Macroeconomic conditions which greatly impacted on airline financially, comprising of lower fare have catapulted increase in satisfaction. When fewer passengers are travelling and we have fewer flights in air, on-time performance goes up increasing the rating for efficiency. The reduction in baggage due to increase in the amount of fees charged has also increased efficiency. Most passengers end up carrying fewer bags. Despite the passengers hating the add-on fees, they have begun slowly started embracing it. The passengers in return are being rewarded by efficiency service. The base for competition of airline is fees and costs which cushion their organization in times of financial hardship. Service quality management is another determining factor that separates established airports from weak airports. This are has been widely exploited in firms that deal with provision of services. Service quality conceptual models During the past two decades, service quality has turn out to be a main factor drawing the attention of researchers managers and practitioners, owing to its strong influence on customer satisfaction, gaining higher profit, return of investment, performance and lower costs. The expedient competition and development of service quality in both developing and developed countries has made it imperative for companies to evaluate and measure the encounters of quality service. A variety of models of conceptual have been put forward by different researchers for the main aim of measurement of service quality. It is predicted that service quality conceptual models give the management the opportunity to point out problems concerning quality and consequently prepare for the introduction of a program for quality improvement, and therefore improving the efficiency, overall performance and profitability. Some of the models that are influential in the literature of service management are based on the concept of the gap of service quality. This is the difference between the perception of the service and the customer expectations. If performance is less than the expectations, then the quality perceived is below satisfactory and customer dissatisfaction happens. In the recent past, more focus has been placed on comprehending the goal of expectations owing to the fact that expectation of the customer of quality is experiencing an increase and human beings are turning out to be more critical and discerning of the service quality that they experience (Rhoades, 2006). Service quality gaps model by parasuraman et al. This model is extensively used in academic literature. It tries to point out salient activities of organization of service that impact on quality perception. It indicates the interactions that exists between these activities and shows the linkages between the main activities of the organization of service or marketer which are important to the delivery service quality levels that are satisfactory. The links are named as discrepancies or gaps, which means that a gap is a representative of a hurdle which is significant to the achievement service quality level that is satisfactory. The pioneer put forward that service quality was a function of the difference between performance and expectation based ion the dimensions of quality. A model of service quality was developed focusing on gap analysis. Different scales were devised for the measurement of the different gaps (Ahmed & Hassan, 2003). Internal service quality model Internal service quality model was developed by Kumar and Frost. The model is concerned with evaluation of dimensions and their various relations which influence service quality gaps in the internal customers and internal suppliers in a large service organization. The gaps include: the discrepancy in perception of support staff of expectation of frontline staff, difference between specifications of service quality and the actual service quality delivered (Rhoades, 2006). Model of service quality gaps by Layton and Luk The practitioners added two more gaps to the Parasuraman et al traditional model. They show the difference in the comprehending of expectations of a customer by service front-line providers and manager and the differences in perception of the service providers and customer expectations. Service quality and service quality management Service quality is the collective influence of performances which decides the degree of satisfaction of the service user. According to Ahmed and Hassan (2003), quality is the perception of the customer of a service that has been delivered. Service quality management is the maintenance and monitoring of services’ end-to-end for classes of customers or specific customers. As a huge range of services are availed to customers, the influence of the performance network on service quality will be vastly intricate. It is fundamental that engineers of services establish performance network issues that largely influence customer service. Moreover revenue lost as a result of service degradation must be quantified. When the quality for service goes below the levels that are contracted; the management should immediately put in place corrective actions that should put the service delivery back on track. Focus could be placed on degradations that impact on the large population of the customers being served. Network operations, for instance, may ask for reports on capacity of the service, the population of the affected customers by the degradation, N-Best or N-Worst services, and the elements that come with them. For new service an audit should be done to determine service uptake and service usage. Regulators may also request service quality history compared against service objectives put in place. The goal of implementation of a system of quality management is to make sure that the activities of the business are being conducted in a manner that is controlled and persons responsible for the various activities understand and know their responsibilities and roles. System of quality management documentation must be a ready point of reference to identify when, how, where and perhaps why a particular job should be done, or management of an activity (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2003). Literature review The expectations of the passengers of services in the airport There has been rapid change in the airport industry. Modern day air travelers have a wide range of meaningful choices among the airports present and this has created an imminent urgency in marketers in the airport to make them stand out by adequately meeting the needs of the consumers in an improved way as compared to the competitors. Although the perception of the passengers concerning quality in air service is one among several variables (that include scheduling, prices, location and routes) that add up to the attractiveness of the airport; nevertheless it is a fundamental variable owing to the increase in significance of orientation of the customer to the industry competitive advantage. Airport press releases and publication in aviation trade have got evidence that airport industry mangers deeply comprehend the magnitude of perceptions of customers in relation to service quality (Heung, Wong, & Qu, 2000). Industry and academic researchers on a regular basis measure the perceptions of the passengers on airport service quality in order to benchmark metrics of performance directly from the customer’s voice, to eliminate loss of important passenger traffic and identify opportunities for improvement of the service. Marketer in the airport conduct research to determine the wants and needs of the passengers with the goal of improving revenues that are non-aviation related generated from retail offerings and restaurant offerings. Chen (2002) says that the expectations nature behind perceptions in airport service quality is not clear. As opposed to the widely accepted gap-theory for measurement of service quality, both commercial airport and academic researchers are likely to measure service quality by monitoring and establishing service performance measures that can be or may not be gotten from direct in put of the customer. Gap theory involves the subtraction of a customers level of service perception from what was initially expected. Mostly the measures that are used are internally generated, for example, time for delivery of baggage, delays and other complains registered (Callan. and Kyndt, 2001). According to Callan and Kyndt (2001), the measures which are internally derived are important for the process of benchmarking but on the contrary they are suspect owing to the fact that they are obtained from the managers as opposed to the affected passengers and therefore are devoid of the perspective of the customer. Even in cases where the measures are externally generated-targeting to measure the customers opinions and attitudes-the absence of systematic understanding of expectations of airport customers gives the possibility that what will be measured will encompass attributes which are easy and very obvious to implement. Crotts, Dickson, and Ford, R. (2005), argues that the resultant outcome is futile effort to enhance service quality is manner that that will not impress the customers and consequently being unable the needed value that determines the choice of the customer when provided when provided with a variety of alternatives. The tradition of airport research has to a large extent ignored the gap theory as a method used in the measurement of service quality. The services and marketing literature has put very little emphasis on passengers or airports that form a cosmopolitan group who consume the literature on their journeys as they have extended periods of time in service spaces that are elaborate where they find themselves with limited decision making process. The airport industry could greatly benefit from the best practices and the collective insights of other industries specializing in services that encounter issues that are similar. Airport Industry According to Crotts et al. (2005), the airports have experienced a steady growth in the transportation and travel industry. In the past decades the aviation industry globally has bored a five to six percent of annual growth rates. According to the Airport Council International over 3.2 billion passengers passed through the airports in the world in the year 2001. Airports in North America represent approximately above forty percent of the whole world total air traffic and more than 3.2 million passengers use the United States airports as reported by the daily. Among the world’s busy airports almost twenty of them are locate3d in the United States of America. US Airports are responsible for generation of over $380 billion within a year of economic activities. However demand for air transport slowed down following the recent years of economic melt down experienced allover the globe. In the wake of the events that took place on September 11, 2001, airports within the United States experienced huge decline in the traffic of passengers and huge losses were experienced. The US airport is expected to grow by approximately sixty percent is growth comes back to normal. One billion passengers per year are expected to utilize the United States airports. With the anticipation for expansion of airport capacity in the United States almost $60 billion has been injected in development projects such as noise mitigation, security and safety, terminals, runways and terminals. Customers in airport are resoundingly varied and comprises of concessionaires, passengers, tenants, employees, airlines and many others. In this paper it has been narrowed to air travelers and passengers who are the end users of airport services and facilities. Passenger expectation and behavior of the experience in the airport is influenced by the type of traveler, aim of the journey and the circumstances surrounding him. Regardless of their variety, however, all the customers are at the airport for the major aim of transferring from transportation that are ground based to air modes. It should be noted conspicuously that the airport is not the final destination targeted by the travelers. Passengers come to the airport due to a decision process that is limited. Arriving at the airport passengers come across both intangible and tangible services in a physical setting. It is a common thing spending a lot of at an average of one hour at the same terminal. Passenger satisfaction Marketing in the airports Marketing did not played no important role in the airport management until the 1980s, hitherto the airport was widely seen as a free public utility or service accorded by the government or entities of quasi-government. Deregulation of the airlines and many of the sectors in the airports transport industry enhanced airlines competition for routing. Marketing was explored at the airports that needed to protect and enlarge their base of customers. Air travelling became more demanding and sophisticated airports had the belief that they could have an impact on the airline routing by enhancing customer satisfaction through the provision of quality services. Owing to this by the 1990s majority of airports were focusing on a wide range of marketing activities in a revived strategy to survive in the face of increasing competition. Similar to many industries in the service sector, the airport industry consequently settled on service quality as the best strategy of ensuring that they have a competitive age over the others (Chen, 2002). Quality Services Management at Emirates Airport According to Rhoades (2006), Emirates’ Airport Services is the ultimate division that has the responsibility for all services on the ground concerning flights of Emirates occurring to and from Dubai International Airport. The coveted ISO 9001:2000 System accreditation of Quality Management has been awarded to Emirates’ Airport Services (EKAS). This division goes on to oversee every ground handling agents helping Emirates passengers at over a hundred destinations globally. Despite being known for excellence in-flight, Emirates sets the same exceptional standards for customer care quality on the ground. Special services at Emirates At Emirates young and unaccompanied minors are met and given the assistance which they require and the same is extended to other passengers who require special care on either arriving or departing flights. Wheelchair passengers are appropriately assisted to reach any destination within the Airport and to comfortably board the plane. They are also helped to disembark. Special Service staff is mandated to go through specific designed training that helps them to be able to render the special services to the designated passengers. Guidance and assistance is provided to the passengers who are disabled. The specialized centre is located in Dubai (Jones & Peppiatt, 1996). Special branded baby strollers consisting of hygienic covers are immediately provided to parents having small babies disembarking on flights at Dubai and connecting to any other stations of Emirates network. The Special Service lounge that has been newly refurbished has a play area, two play stations, and 42 inch TV screen having cartoon channels, complimentary refreshment and a sleeping facility. Moreover also available are colouring material, writing board and to crown it all reading material. Passengers are given the chance to choose between two Special Service lounges that are very dedicated. One of them is located at Terminal 1 found in the dedicated check-in area of the Emirates. The other lounge is located in Sheikh Rashid Terminal next to gate 22 at Dubai International Airport. They comprise of a one-stop-shop check-in provided for disabled and unaccompanied passengers and complimentary refreshments (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2003). First Class Lounge in Dubai Emirates Airport Services is operating a luxurious world-class lounge at Dubai. According to Espinoza (1999), it encompasses almost 740 square meters together with a staircase of marble leading to an upper level of 325 square meters. The seating capacity is 192 passengers. It has varieties of amenities. The first class lounge has five guest bedrooms having trouser presses, television, and en-suite showers. Three of the bedrooms are singles while two bedrooms are doubles. The lower level has leather-upholstered area with arm-chairs and sofas surrounded by restful fountains and lush plants and it is fully carpeted. The lower level has separate showers. Weary travelers have got scientifically designed massage chairs at their disposal. The reading materials in the lounge consist of a wide range of international magazines and newspapers. A special designed are of television viewing that has plasma screens and a variety of channels on the satellite. The first class lounge has also a business centre with free laptop connection, internet access, printing facilities, phones and faxes. Baby-changing facilities that are special, games and toys are all found in this lounge. Skywards dedicated staff is available to help the travelers with all kind of inquiries. The lounge is equipped with gourmet dishes both cold and hot, a complimentary bar service having on a 24-hour basis premium spirits and champagne (Espinoza, 1999). Business Class Lounge in Dubai Emirates has a superb Business class lounge at Dubai International Airport having an upper level of 288 square metres and a lower level of 955 square metres which has the capacity of 632 passengers. It has majority of the facilities very similar to that found in the first class lounge excluding the bedrooms but has plants and a water fountain that makes the seating area to have more tranquility. The passengers enjoy a wide encompassing menu of complimentary cold and hot gourmet dishes, a full bar service having premium spirits and champagne. The lounge has business centre having free internet access and separate TV viewing area. The lounge has a variety of things which include skywards service desk, TV viewing area, showers, baby-changing facilities and ramps for wheel chairs (Bitner, 1992). Management of service quality at Emirates Emirates Airport Services has the responsibility for the management of ground services in every Emirates destination in over one hundred locations. Steady monitoring and evaluation is carried out to make sure that quality services are accorded to the passengers and during the journey excellent treatment is ensured. Emirates Airport Services had a crucial role in the implementing of the Mercator Airport Control System that is the control system for DCS and links online over eighty one destinations. The division is also in charge of the management of over six hundred and one hotel rooms at Millennium Hotel in Dubai which encompasses part of layover programme at Emirates in Dubai. It also manages in Dubai above fifty rooms at the Airport at the Airport Meridien hotel. Emirates Airport Services has also the responsibility of distributing and formulating the company policy as far as ground operations and passenger services are concerned, and it is one among the divisions that take part in developing new Concourses 2 and 3 and Terminal 3 at the Airport in Dubai. These facilities will be exclusive to Emirates. Moreover, the division is mandated with maintaining and buying twenty thousand Unit Load Devices and Aluminium containers for the loading of cargo and baggage (Yeh, & Kuo, 2002). Conclusion In this paper there is an applied text discussing the aviation sector in United Arab Emirates where the importance of the aviation sector has been outlined and the importance of service quality management. In the academic text airline consumer satisfaction as reported by different journals has been sated, the conceptual models, service quality and service quality management were comprehensively looked at. In the literature review section various aspects were discussed which included the passengers’ expectations of service at the airport, marketing in airports and a case study of service management at the Emirates airport. Linkages between applied and academic context The applied text outlines what is actually being done on the ground as far as service management is concerned. In this paper the various efforts put in by different airports to ensure that they have a competitive advantage has been discussed proving the necessity of service quality by the service firms. The academic context outlines the research and publications that have been done on the subject of service quality management. It is from the academic context that the applied context draws its road map in the implementation of service quality. Further research In as much as service quality has been a determining factor of giving a company a competitive edge there is still so much to be done on the subject. Most of the models developed in the measurement of service quality are still not very comprehensive and more research need to be done on this aspect. The measurement of service quality from the perspective of the customer has not been successful and more research needs to be done to accomplish this, which will be a break through in pointing out the real problem and therefore significant corrective measures. Bibliography Heung, V.C.S., Wong, M.Y. and Qu, H. 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