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Purpose: Variations in customer expectations pose a challenge to service quality improvement in the airline industry. Understanding airline customers' expectations and satisfaction help service providers improve their offerings. The extant literature examines airline passengers' expectations in isolation, neglecting the overall impact of online reviews on service quality improvement. This paper systematically evaluates the airline industry's passengers' expectations and satisfaction using expectation confirmation theory (ECT) and the SERVQUAL framework. The paper analyzes online reviews to examine the relationship between airline service quality attributes and passengers' satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The SERVQUAL framework was employed to examine the effects of customer culture, the reason for traveling, and seat type on customer's expectations and satisfaction across a large sample of airline customers. Findings: A total of 17,726 observations were gathered from the Skytrax review website. The lowest satisfaction ratings were from passengers from the USA, Canada and India. Factors that affect perceived service performance include customer service, delays and baggage management. Empathy and reliability have the biggest impact on the perceived satisfaction of passengers. Research limitations/implications: This research increases understanding of the consumer expectations through analysis of passengers' online reviews. Results are limited to a small sample of airline industries. Practical implications: This study provides airlines with valuable information to improve customer service by analyzing online reviews. Social implications: This study provides the opportunity for airline customers to gain better services when airline companies utilize the findings. Originality/value: This paper offers insights into passengers' expectations and their perceived value for money in relation to seat types. Previous studies have not investigated value for money as a construct for passengers' expectations and satisfaction relative to service quality dimensions. This paper addresses this need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus outbreak has been highly disruptive for aviation sector, threatening the survival and sustainability of airlines. Apart from massive losses attributed to suspended operations, industry foresee a grim recession ahead. Restrictive movements, weak tourism, curtailed income, compressed commercial activities and fear psychosis are expected to compress the passenger demand from 30 to 60%, endangering the commercial viability of airlines operation. Fragile to withstand the cyclic momentary shocks of oil price fluctuation, demand flux, declining currency, airlines in India warrants for robust structural changes in their operating strategies, business model, revenue and pricing strategies to survive the long-lasting consequences of Covid-19. Paper attempts to analyze impact of lockdown and covid crisis on airlines in India and possible challenges ahead. Study also suggests the possible way-out for mitigating the expected losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to understand the competitive landscape of emerging market economies (EMEs) and the implications of business models and strategies used by multinational enterprises (MNEs) to enter and operate in such landscapes. It does so by considering the aviation sector in an emerging economy -- India, and by studying the strategies pursued by AirAsia India -- the Indian joint venture of AirAsia Investment Limited and Tata Sons. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper follows a case study approach. Secondary data sources from the library, company website and newspaper articles have been used to build a case that would encourage students to discuss and analyze the competitive strategies followed by MNEs in EMEs. Findings -- Emerging markets offer attractive investment opportunities to MNEs across several industries. However, their markets for intermediate goods and services possess imperfections. Competitiveness in such markets will require going beyond country-specific and firm-specific advantages. MNEs will need to integrate location-specific advantages with internalization advantages of these market imperfections to operate successfully in the complex environments of EMEs. A one-size-fits-all approach of transposing successful strategies from home markets will fail to create value. Practical implications -- MNEs, such as AirAsia, will need to develop participatory skills to leverage the location-specific-advantages of EMEs and reduce their own curse of foreignness to be able to succeed in EMEs. Originality/value -- This paper contributes to extant literature by studying the competitive strategies pursued by a global leader in an EME. The case of the 'World's Best Low-Cost Airline" -- AirAsia's India operations seeks to go beyond the Eclectic Paradigm and the country-specific and firm-specific advantages framework, to provide a location-internalization paradigm for operating in EMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the researcher has compared various revenue parameters which help airlines generate revenue with special focus on Air India and also with reference to its peer group of airlines in Indian viation pace. A comparison of global standards on various parameters mostly in context to aviation industry in USA as also incorporated in the paper. The good thing about aviation sector is that allmost, all the data is available in the public domain however analysis and interpretation requires a bit of work. The researcher has reviewed various factors responsible for driving revenue for five major airlines operating in Indian aviation space, some of which are low cost carriers however the line dividing the two has been increasingly becoming thin and since the comparision is only on technical parameters this difference has been conveniently ignored. The thumb rule like any other business is to keep revenue factors high and cost factors low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to explain how airlines in India and customers can both benefit by the unbundling of services. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores how a recent regulatory change allowing unbundled services will affect the airline industry in India. Using illustrations, it highlights the benefits to the airlines and to the customers. It recommends the strategies that airlines can follow. Findings – Airlines in India can now offer unbundled services. However, regulatory authorities need to allow greater flexibility to airlines. Given more flexibility, airlines can design offerings that will improve their profitability while simultaneously benefiting customers. Practical implications – The government needs to go beyond the current regulatory changes. Providing increased flexibility will benefit both airlines and customers. Airlines would need to understand customers more intimately, experiment in the market, lobby for flexibility and develop strategic agility to benefit from the changed regulations on unbundled services. Social implications – It concedes that airlines can now design unbundled services such that only those customers who value a service get charged for the service. Those customers who do not need a service can get away by paying a lower fare. The government has taken the first steps in the right direction. Once it provides greater flexibility, the airlines in India can benefit significantly. Originality/value – The paper considers the unique context of the airline industry in India where recent regulatory changes are likely to make the industry more dynamic and improve profitability of airlines. It provides insights in to the challenges faced under the current system and recommends strategies for the government and companies to follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the hyper-competitive Indian airline industry, the low-cost carriers as well as full-service airlines are in dire need of innovative marketing strategies to engage their customers. To understand the dynamics behind the process of customer engagement, the purpose of this paper is to gain insights into the lived experience of consumers about their online air-ticket bookings experiences. In total, 60 frequent air travellers were approached to participate in the study and the self-completion diary method was incorporated to record their ticket booking experiences. The responses recorded in the diaries were analyzed on the basis of their content from which eight themes were derived. The findings bring forth the importance of hedonic experiential values along with utilitarian experiential values toward the engagement of customers during the online air-ticket booking process. The current study is one of the pioneers in conceptualization of customer engagement as a third-order construct by uncovering the sub-dimensions of the second order factors—utilitarian and hedonic experiential values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out the effect of recruitment practices on the retention of commercial pilots by the airlines in India. Often it is found that trained pilots pilfered by other airlines within/outside of India and Indian aviation industry have to rely on expatriate pilots to fly the aircrafts. Newly appointed pilots are required to be trained due to the lack of experience, which is a huge investment by the airlines. Therefore, the recruitment and retention of the commercial pilots create challenges for aviation industry in India. Design/methodology/approach: Research design of the present study was exploratory and descriptive to evaluate the effect of recruitment practices on the retention of commercial pilots by airlines in India. All together, 225 commercial pilots from different Indian airlines participated in the present study. Instruments were designed to understand the practices related to recruitment, selection and retention strategies of commercial pilots used by these airlines, and how pilots perceive about recruitment practices and its relevance for retention strategies in the organization. Data were analyzed using factor analysis, Pearson's correlation and regression analysis Findings: Results of data analysis have revealed five factors of retention and selection measures, which were encouraging and employee-friendly recruitment policy, impact of external factors, organizational internal factors, employment brand and organizational growth and self-advancement opportunities. Similarly, retention strategies measures had four factors, namely, positive work culture, opportunities for individual growth, development, and salary benefit package, and opportunity for self-achievement. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient result revealed significantly positive relationship between various dimensions of recruitment and selection to retention strategies. Further regression analysis revealed the effect of those recruitment policies on retention was positive. Research limitations/implications: Findings of this study could be potential bias and prejudice of the people involved and responded. As information was collected only form Indian commercial pilots, the findings might have changed if study was to be applied to a different country or economy. Random sampling error could not be ruled out. Preferred, accepted and perceived recruitment strategies and retention polices of Indian aviation sectors might be different as compare to other countries aviation sectors policies. Influence of cultural, organizational internal and external factors result might be different as compared to result of present study. Practical implications: This is an important study, which will help the aviation sector to design recruitment policies and retention strategies to retain pilots to deal with a high level of attrition. Furthermore, present study will help the aviation sector in designing their policies and strategies, which forces pilots to remain with particular air carrier for longer time. It will give the same direction to other organizations, in general. Social implications: The concept of recruitment and retention is applicable to each and every service sector. There could be different parameters for the same. Social implication of the present study is the same as it is for the aviation sectors. It is implied that service sectors must have appropriate recruitment policies, i.e. encouraging and employee friendly recruitment policy, conscious and continuous evaluation organizations' external as well as internal factor, efforts shall be made to create employment branding, always focus on growth and advancement opportunities for the employees and organization. Positive work culture, opportunities for individual growth and development, salary benefit package and opportunity for self-achievement will help employees to remain with the organization for longer time. Originality/value: This is an original research in the area of understanding recruitment policies and retention practices of commercial pilots in Indian aviation industry. This study is related to practical and genuine problem of attrition. Not many studies are found in this particular area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a game-theoretic framework is applied in order to model the competition scenario between high-speed rail (HSR) and airlines in the Indian context and assess the impact of speed and passengers' characteristics on the equilibrium of the game. The competition is modelled in terms of the fare and frequency offered by the operators to maximize their profits. The speed of HSR is taken as an additional strategic variable in the game with three levels of high speed: low, medium, high. A three-stage game is formulated with the entrant playing its speed strategy in the first stage followed by optimal fare and frequency selection by both the modes. Passengers are considered to be heterogeneous in nature by assuming a continuous distribution of the value of time. Numerical simulations indicate that the dominant strategy for airlines and HSR is based on accommodation and medium speed, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelationships among the extracted constructs of airline service quality (SQ), perceived image, perceived value, passenger satisfaction and their influence on passengers’ future behavioral intentions in the domestic aviation sector market in Indian context. Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework is developed based on previous studies. In order to address a lack of comprehensive evaluation of airline SQ, this study extracted the dimensions of airline SQ and used them in the structural model. The conceptual model is tested using structural equation modeling approach using maximum likelihood estimation technique. A sample of 526 domestic full-service passengers was used to test the hypothesized relationships among the constructs. Findings – Out of the three dimensions of airline SQ extracted, convenience and promptness with reliability dimension of SQ was having a direct influence on perceived image, perceived value and passenger satisfaction which in turn influence BI. The findings of this study indicate the passenger evaluation process flows from perceived image to satisfaction via passenger perceived value and not directly from perceived image to passenger satisfaction. Only passengers’ satisfaction was found to have a direct influence on passengers’ future BI. Originality/value – This study modified SERVPERF instrument for airline settings and empirically validated the instrument using data from Indian domestic passengers. This research adds to the body of knowledge by providing a conceptual framework which gives an empirical insight into the interrelationship among the constructs of airline SQ, perceived image, perceived value, passenger satisfaction and its effects on passenger’s future BI. The conceptual model developed and tested in this paper will act as a reference in forming suitable marketing strategies for airline’s competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aviation stock sensitivity to crude oil prices has raised a suspicion of nexus between aviation stocks and crude oil prices. In this paper, the sustainable nexus between oil Prices and aviation stocks in India are analysed. In particular, it is tested whether there is any sustainable long-term co-movement between the stocks of three aviation companies listed on the Indian stock market and crude oil. The oil prices and aviation stocks are decomposed into different time horizons using the methodology of wavelets. The nexus is studied at shorter, medium, and longer time horizons. Broadly, results show that there is some nexus in the short-run, however, sustainable long-run nexus is missing. The results are found to be robust and approximately similar when data from three Indian aviation stocks are used. It is inferred that sustainable long-run movements in aviation stocks should be attributed to the reasons not related to crude oil price changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing energy crisis, the need to conserve and manage energy resources in a responsible manner is being increasingly felt by different sectors of the economy. India's civil aviation industry is on a high-growth trajectory. India aims to become the third-largest aviation market by 2020 and the largest by 2030. The rise in the energy needs of airports to satisfy this demand has led to great concerns about the environmental impact of the aviation industry. Long term sustainability of airports is getting more important in this scenario. As demand for air travel continues to grow, aviation's environmental impacts need to be addressed while continuing to maximize its social and economic benefits. This paper presents the problem of high energy consumption in the aviation sector by analysing the energy consumption data of three Indian airports in the composite climatic zone of India and the imperative need to design energy efficient airports. Data was collected from energy audits, which were conducted over a period of one year. The collected information was used to perform an analysis for assessing specific measures to reduce energy use at the passenger terminal building (PTB) and to identify possible actions for improving the airport performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of the recent restrictions/bans imposed by several nations on air travel to India in the light of the increasing number of infections amid the second wave of covid-19. We employ the standard event study method on a sample of 34 airline stocks across seven nations to find that the recent restrictions/bans on air travel significantly impact the global airline industry, although the country-specific impacts are not similar. We find that the post-event reaction in all nations has been different from those evidenced during the global pandemic declaration. We are the first to examine these impacts during the current wave of the pandemic. It contributes to the literature on the effects of the pandemic on the global airline industry. Further, it also provides practical explanations to the investors on how the airline stocks react to the persistence of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • To identify the factors which impact the financial condition of airline companies in India. • To assess and prioritize these identified factors. • To provide managerial and practical insights on these factors. Abstract The aviation industry in India is on a growth path with annual passenger traffic growing at over fifteen percent. The government has backed this growth through the extensive development of airport infrastructure across the country. However, airline companies in India, periodically face financial distress as the internal and external environmental factors change dynamically. Company management, acting as the agent for all the stakeholders, needs to ensure that the distress condition does not develop into a bankruptcy situation. It needs to identify all those factors, which have a major impact on the financial condition of the company and monitor them continuously using various tools and techniques. These identified key factors could be from both the internal conditions of the company and from the external environment that the industry operates. By identifying these influencing factors early, management can take preventive measures before the distress condition becomes critical. Informed decisions can be taken when the value of these key parameters change over time. To identify and rank these key factors in terms of relative importance, this paper adopts a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach based on the technique of fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Processing (AHP). Robustness of the method is further tested through sensitivity analysis. The study finds that financial factors are the most critical and categorized as a major influence on the commercial stability of the airlines. Among these, operating revenue per air kilometer is the key variable for this sector. Operational factors, which are an indicator of the capacity and cost structure of the company, are ranked next, with the load factor taking the highest rank in this category. From the external environment aviation, fuel price per liter is ranked highest among all the factors and has a major impact on the profitability of the airline in India. Results also show that annual inflation and GDP growth rate in the country has a major influence on the sustainability of the airlines in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the closing prices of 88 listed airline companies worldwide from November 16, 2020 to May 10, 2021, we employ the event study methodology to examine how air travel restrictions to India by several nations during AprileMay 2021 impacted the global airline industry. It is interesting to find out how the shocks that arise in India impact the global airline industry. We find that even after a prolonged pandemic, developed and emerging markets are sensitive to new information. The news content of the B.1.617 variant, named "variant of interest" by the WHO and air travel restrictions have significantly impacted the global airline industry. However, emerging markets are sensitive to travel restrictions. Furthermore, the impacts were less severe than those of the first wave in early 2020. Using crosssectional regression, we also provide insights into which firm-specific characteristics drive firm's value during the pandemic. We find that while debt, past returns, and volatility positively impact the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs), the liquidity and total assets negatively impact the CARs in the shortest event window. To examine this research question, we conducted the first study during the second wave of the pandemic. These findings have important implications for the stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use simulation to analyze how flight routing network structure may change in different world regions, and how this might impact future traffic growth and emissions. We compare models of the domestic Indian and US air transportation systems, representing developing and mature air transportation systems respectively. We explicitly model passenger and airline decision-making, capturing passenger demand effects and airline operational responses, including airline network change. The models are applied to simulate air transportation system growth for networks of 49 airports in each country from 2005 to 2050. In India, the percentage of connecting passengers simulated decreases significantly (from over 40% in 2005 to under 10% in 2050), indicating that a shift in network structure towards increased point-to-point routing can be expected. In contrast, very little network change is simulated for the US airport set modeled. The simulated impact of network change on system CO 2 emissions is very small, although in the case of India it could enable a large increase in demand, and therefore a significant reduction in emissions per passenger (by nearly 25%). NO x emissions at major hub airports are also estimated, and could initially reduce relative to a case in which network change is not simulated (by nearly 25% in the case of Mumbai in 2025). This effect, however, is significantly reduced by 2050 because of frequency competition effects. We conclude that network effects are important when estimating CO 2 emissions per passenger and local air quality effects at hub airports in developing air transportation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the intensely competitive environment, customer satisfaction has become the key focus of airlines to help them retain existing customers and enhance opportunities of attracting new customers. The present study focuses on understanding the importance of various attributes that impact passenger satisfaction based on online ratings from TripAdvisor for India. In doing this, we differentiate between the type of passenger (based on nationality) and type of airline (low cost and full service). Results indicate that service and value for money attributes are the most important factors influencing customer satisfaction in India. Further based on the type of passenger and type of airline, results vary significantly. Our study has implications for managers to help them focus on employing their scarce resources better to retain their competitive position in the Indian market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Success of any economy depends on the performance of service sector. Aviation is one of the fast growing service sectors which may pave way for economic growth and development for the developing countries. India is one among the world's fast growing domestic aviation market. It gains the 9th rank in the global aviation market and it is projected to be the 3rd largest by 2020 and largest by 2030. The current study focuses on the economic impact of FDI on Indian Aviation Sector. Chapter one provides basic idea about the Indian Aviation Sector. Chapter two enlists the review of literature. Chapter three envisages the need for the foreign investment in Indian Aviation. Chapter four narrates the role of FDI in aviation. Chapter five elucidates the SWOT analysis of FDI on Indian Aviation. The final chapter concludes the current status of Aviation sector along with the discussion for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyze the dynamic price dispersion of the Indian domestic airline industry. We develop the power divergence statistic (PDS) for each route and study the average PDS and average airfare movement. We analyze the effect of Average PDS based on a few selected route characteristic variables and market structure variables. Our research suggests that the competition and price dispersion steps up airfares as the departure date comes closer, when both full service carriers and low cost carriers operate in the same market. Application of Revenue Management and Dynamic Pricing is a common practice in the Indian domestic airline industry. It also shows that route characteristics affect airfare movement as well as airfare dispersion in different routes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]