Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the airline choice criteria of Turkish passengers and the factors that affect the ranking of these criteria. In the study, emphasis was also put on the investigation of air travel related behavior and attitudes of the passengers. After a review of the literature on the subject of airline marketing (based to a greater extent on American and Canadian practice) an exploratory research focusing upon Turkish passengers was conducted in Istanbul AtatOrk International Terminal. Analyses were performed on data collected from 220 usable questionnaires -distributed by convenience sampling method- by using SPSSPC+ program. The majority of passengers are found to enjoy air travel, to fly economy class, and to prefer national airlines. Their major expectations from the flight attendants are courtesy/smile and consistency in service quality throughout the flight. They usually refer to their prior flight experiences before selecting an airline, but they engage also in external search for information as their education level increases. The most important factor affecting their airline choice criteria is the overall quality image of the airline, the actual quality of services received and on-time performance. Neither demographics nor flight experiences are very influential on the ranking of the criteria; but flight purpose is a better explanation of differences in importance attributed to choice criteria. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to Turkish literature by offering basic information and research scope, and to related parties in the air travel industry by providing implications.
