THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON THE AIRLINE‟S GROUND
Airline‟s ground service quality at the airport
When the economy grows, the role of services becomes increasingly important and services have become the research objects of many different fields: from economics to culture, law, from administrative to faculty learn management
Therefore, there are many different concepts of services and different ways of understanding the meaning of services
From the economic point of view, the nature of the service is the supply to meet the needs such as tourism, fashion, health care and it is profitable
According to Philip Kotler, “ A service is an act of performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything Its implementation may or may not be tied to a physical product”
According to Article 4.2, Law on Price No 11/2012 / QH13 of the National Assembly of Vietnam dated June 20, 2012 which is effective from January 1, 2013:
“Service is intangible goods Its production process and consumption process are inseparable, including all types of services in the system of Vietnamese products in accordance with the law”
The most widely used current service concept is the concept according to ISO
9004 -2: 1991E: " Service is the result of interaction between suppliers and customers, thanks to the activities of supplier to meet consumer needs ”
From the above definition it can be understood that, what is not cultivated, not producted is a service For example: hotels, entertainment, insurance, health care, education, finance, banking, transportation, legal consultance
* Definition of airline’s ground service quality at the airport
From the approach of ISO about service, we can give the definition of ground services of an airline at the airport as follows:
Airline’s ground services at the airport are the result of interaction between the ground service provider at the airport of an airline and the customer, as well as the activities of the provider in order to meet the needs of consumers of airline ground services at airports
1.1.2 The role of ground services of airlines at airports
Air services during flight operation are constituted by many processes
According to the supply process, air services are comprised of two main groups: ground services at airports and inflight services Boundary is used to identify the responsibilities of each division involved in the services is aircraft door
The inflight services mean the services provided on an aircraft These services include meals, newspapers and magazines, entertainment activities on airplanes such as video games, movies, wheelchairs, air plane comfort These services are significantly different between business class and economy class
Airline‟s ground services at airports have a particularly important role in getting the final service product: perfect inflight services The final product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is to satisfy all the pre-and post-flight needs of the passengers such as suitable seating for passengers on the plane, reservation of meals, baggage handling, load balancing, guide and control passengers on board, serve safe and efficient flights, passenger dissembarkation control, and get checked baggage, guide guests on related tranfer procedures If the airline's ground service is not performed, no flight will be operated This is an indispensable chain in the process of providing air services to customers
Ground service is the first stage of passengers experiencing the service of the airline at the airport It creats an initial impression to passengers during the process of using the services A bad first impression will create a negative impact on passegers' perception of the entire service of the entire flight In particular, in the case of unusual flights, the time passengers use the ground service at the airport usually lasts longer, even more than the time the passengers take the flight The delay itself has caused passenger dissatisfaction If the airline's ground service is perfectly provided, it will be an opportunity to receive empathy from passengers and thereby build trust and loyalty of passsengers with the airline
1.1.3 Characteristics of airline’s ground services at airports
The ground service of the airline at the airport has all 5 characteristics of the service in general and it also has its own characteristics
General characteristics of the service
Service is a special product, has many different characteristics from other goods There are five characteristics that are often given to differentiate services from other types of goods: 1) zero loss, 2) intangibility, 3) simultaneity, 4) and 5) storage inability
As other services, ground services of airlines at airports also have the full characteristics of general services:
Skills and ability to provide services will not be lost after the airline‟s service providers complete ground services This success will create the prestige and enhance the image and brand of the airline with its customers
People play an absolutely important role in the quality of ground services of airlines at airports
The quality of ground services of airlines at airports is assessed according to the perception of customer satisfaction
The product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is invisible It is the process of communicating between ground staff and passengers to carry out procedures for passengers, taking passengers to the aircraft These specific service steps customers cannot see, taste, touch, smell before using as other commodity products The results obtained from customers are usually a pleasant experience or not Due to this intangible attribute, it is difficult for users to assess the quality of ground services of the airline at the airport before, during and even after using the service
To reduce uncertainty when using the ground services of airlines at airports, customers will have to search for information sources such as brand, reputation of the airline in the market and the cost is commensurate with the quality of service as expected
(3) Simultaneity of production and consumption
Production and consumption processes cannot be separated Customers will decide the production of the service An airline cannot create a service without a passenger Customers are both consumers and direct participants in the production process The production of the service ends when the consumer process ends
Therefore, customers who need to use ground services from airlines at airports must contact the service provider directly to satisfy their needs
This is a feature that clearly shows the difference between goods and services
Production and consumption of goods are two separate activities Goods normally produced at a production facility are then shipped to where most customers want to buy
Production and consumption of goods are considered to be separate
Airline ground services are provided by people (ground service staffs) to people (airline passengers) People may require high- or low-quality service
Example: Passengers may not buy airline tickets if the service attitude of the ground staff is not professional, the check-in staff cannot guarantee the aisle seat if the passenger does not pre-reserve seat before the flight or not request at check-in counter Airline ground services at the airport are highly labor-intensive and characterized by high levels of communication between ground staffs and airline passengers The quality of these interactions affects service perception Especially human behavior, the attitude of communication with each other, the willingness to participate and meet the needs of each party, the motives and personal characteristics are interplaying in the production process and service consumption
This requires managers to focus more on selecting, training, arranging and treating employees to provide high quality services
Because customers want to be taken care of as individual people, the airline's ground services are often personalized and heterogeneous Airlines are difficult to provide service standards to satisfy all customers in all circumstances because that satisfaction depends on the perception and expectations of each customer
Ground service quality of an airline at the airport
1.2.1 Definition of ground service quality of an airline at the airport
Service quality is also a concept that is interesting to researchers The definition and measurement of service quality is relatively difficult and there is no consensus on both Since the early 1980s, researchers have focused on the research and definition of service quality
Gronroos (1984) gives two components of service quality: (1) technical quality and (2) functional quality Functional quality or production process quality implies how the process of service takes place Technical quality includes tangible aspects of the service and it is often considered unimportant and often overlooked
Functional quality is also called human quality and is often considered the most important factor in service quality management
Lewis and Booms spoke that service quality is the difference between customers' expectations and feelings about services If the expectation is greater than the efficiency of the service, the customer will not be satisfied with the quality and therefore they will not be satisfied with the service Quality of service is an emotional concept and is often associated with “feeling” and “customer satisfaction”
Parasuraman & ctg's research (1988,1991) defines service quality as the degree of difference between consumer expectations of services and their perceptions of service outcomes Thus, in the ground service of the airline at the airport, in order to know passengers' assessment of service quality, it is important to understand the customer psychology, expectations of customers when using ground services of airlines at airports
According to ISO-9000: “ Service quality is an appropriate level of service product that satisfies the specified or predetermined requirements of the buyer The quality of service is customer satisfaction determined by the comparison between the perception and expectations of the service after and before the consumer of that service Quality is the level of an inherent set of characteristics that meet requirements The main requirement is the demand or expectation that has been announced, generally understood or required Customer satisfaction is the customer's perception of the customer satisfaction level”
The quality of ground services of airlines at airports is the level of satisfaction of passengers during the process of perceiving the ground services of the airline at airports That is the overall service of the individual, company providing airline ground services at the airport which brings the most benefits and satisfaction to the passengers’ expectation value
The quality of ground services of airlines at the airport is the satisfaction of passengers who use ground services at the airport This satisfaction is reflected in the passengers' evaluation of the knowledge, skills and working attitudes of service personnel through the process of providing services to passengers The successful construction of the ground service quality of the airline at the airport means meeting the expectations and satisfaction of passengers in the process of providing services
Service quality management is a concept that all business managers must consider if they do not want to reduce the competitiveness of their businesses The goal of service quality management is to continuously improve service quality within the allowable cost limits In order to well manage the ground services of airlines at airports, managers must carefully study the components of the service as well as the service delivery process On the basis of studying the needs of customers, the airline must build service standards with detailed services and related service process, deploy, control and evaluate the service quality
1.2.2 Some models of service quality assessment
In the context of increasingly fierce competition, an enterprise can only exist when it provides services that bring satisfaction to customers and is accepted by customers The quality of tangible products can be measured through clear specific provisions on standards such as shape, color, material, etc., the quality of service is more abstract because of its pro characteristics such as inseparability, invisibility, heterogeneity and inability to store The evaluation of basic product quality using experimental and expert methods, is very standardized, complete and has many evaluation methods such as ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 regulations Assessment of basic service quality using sensory and expert methods, has not been standardized in detail and incomplete The comprehensive assessment of customer satisfaction with service quality is extremely difficult, requiring based on scientific models, consistent with reality Along with the concept of service, service quality, assessment of service quality is also an issue that attracts much attention from researchers
Until now, there are many methods of evaluating service quality Within the scope of this research, the author would like to introduce three models of service quality assessment: 1) Technical quality / functional quality model (Grửnroos, 1984); 2) SERVQUAL Model (Parasuraman, 1988) and 3) SERVPERF Model (Cronin and Taylor, 1992)
Technical and functional quality model (Gronroos, 1984)
The model of technical and functional quality was given by Gronross in 1984 In this model, service quality is assessed by comparing the value that customers expect before using the service and value that customers receive when using the service
To measure service quality, Gronross considers three criteria: 1) functional quality (FSQ: Functional Service Quality), 2) technical quality (TSQ: Technical Service Quality) and (3) corporate image
Technical Quality (Technical Service Quality) reflects customer perception of the output of the service delivery process It describes what the service is provided and the values that the customer actually receives from the service that the service provider provides
Functional Quality (Functional Service Quality) describes how the service is provided and is constituted by 5 attributes: reliability, assurance, configuration factors, empathy, level of meeting the needs
Image of the service provider: The image of the corporate acts as a filter in the process of perceiving service quality, making the relationship between customers and businesses better and more sustainable Consumers can feel the quality of service that the provider offers is high or low based on previous experiences and all their feelings to evaluate the quality of service from a certain supplier
The goal of research on service quality model is to find the attributes that constitute the quality of functional and technical quality, the image of the corporate to the perception of the quality of customer service, and then leads to customer satisfaction
Parasuraman is one of the pioneers in researching service quality The model name SERVQUAL is paired from Service and Quality The author thinks that the quality of service is the distance between the expectations of customers and their perceptions (feelings) when using the service and quality perception of customers is the most objective assessment of service quality Parasuraman has modeled the gap in service quality as a basis for standardizing services and evaluating service quality, specifically as follows:
Distance 1: the distance between the perception of the company about the expectation of the customer with the expected service of the customer
Distance 2: the distance between the company's perception of customer expectations with service quality criteria
Distance 3: the distance between service standards and actual services provided to customers
Distance 4: the distance between the quality of services actually provided with the quality of service standards that informs customers
Distance 5: the distance between the service the customer receives and the customer's expectation of the service
EVALUATING THE GROUND SERVICE QUALITY OF
Evaluation of ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International
2.3 Evaluation of ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
Chapter 3: Some solutions to improve the quality of ground services of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
3.1 Development strategy and the direction of ground services development of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport until 2023
3.2 Some solutions to improve ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON THE AIRLINE’S GROUND SERVICE QUALITY AT THE AIRPORT
1.1 Airline’s ground service quality at the airport
When the economy grows, the role of services becomes increasingly important and services have become the research objects of many different fields: from economics to culture, law, from administrative to faculty learn management
Therefore, there are many different concepts of services and different ways of understanding the meaning of services
From the economic point of view, the nature of the service is the supply to meet the needs such as tourism, fashion, health care and it is profitable
According to Philip Kotler, “ A service is an act of performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything Its implementation may or may not be tied to a physical product”
According to Article 4.2, Law on Price No 11/2012 / QH13 of the National Assembly of Vietnam dated June 20, 2012 which is effective from January 1, 2013:
“Service is intangible goods Its production process and consumption process are inseparable, including all types of services in the system of Vietnamese products in accordance with the law”
The most widely used current service concept is the concept according to ISO
9004 -2: 1991E: " Service is the result of interaction between suppliers and customers, thanks to the activities of supplier to meet consumer needs ”
From the above definition it can be understood that, what is not cultivated, not producted is a service For example: hotels, entertainment, insurance, health care, education, finance, banking, transportation, legal consultance
* Definition of airline’s ground service quality at the airport
From the approach of ISO about service, we can give the definition of ground services of an airline at the airport as follows:
Airline’s ground services at the airport are the result of interaction between the ground service provider at the airport of an airline and the customer, as well as the activities of the provider in order to meet the needs of consumers of airline ground services at airports
1.1.2 The role of ground services of airlines at airports
Air services during flight operation are constituted by many processes
According to the supply process, air services are comprised of two main groups: ground services at airports and inflight services Boundary is used to identify the responsibilities of each division involved in the services is aircraft door
The inflight services mean the services provided on an aircraft These services include meals, newspapers and magazines, entertainment activities on airplanes such as video games, movies, wheelchairs, air plane comfort These services are significantly different between business class and economy class
Airline‟s ground services at airports have a particularly important role in getting the final service product: perfect inflight services The final product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is to satisfy all the pre-and post-flight needs of the passengers such as suitable seating for passengers on the plane, reservation of meals, baggage handling, load balancing, guide and control passengers on board, serve safe and efficient flights, passenger dissembarkation control, and get checked baggage, guide guests on related tranfer procedures If the airline's ground service is not performed, no flight will be operated This is an indispensable chain in the process of providing air services to customers
Ground service is the first stage of passengers experiencing the service of the airline at the airport It creats an initial impression to passengers during the process of using the services A bad first impression will create a negative impact on passegers' perception of the entire service of the entire flight In particular, in the case of unusual flights, the time passengers use the ground service at the airport usually lasts longer, even more than the time the passengers take the flight The delay itself has caused passenger dissatisfaction If the airline's ground service is perfectly provided, it will be an opportunity to receive empathy from passengers and thereby build trust and loyalty of passsengers with the airline
1.1.3 Characteristics of airline’s ground services at airports
The ground service of the airline at the airport has all 5 characteristics of the service in general and it also has its own characteristics
General characteristics of the service
Service is a special product, has many different characteristics from other goods There are five characteristics that are often given to differentiate services from other types of goods: 1) zero loss, 2) intangibility, 3) simultaneity, 4) and 5) storage inability
As other services, ground services of airlines at airports also have the full characteristics of general services:
Skills and ability to provide services will not be lost after the airline‟s service providers complete ground services This success will create the prestige and enhance the image and brand of the airline with its customers
People play an absolutely important role in the quality of ground services of airlines at airports
The quality of ground services of airlines at airports is assessed according to the perception of customer satisfaction
The product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is invisible It is the process of communicating between ground staff and passengers to carry out procedures for passengers, taking passengers to the aircraft These specific service steps customers cannot see, taste, touch, smell before using as other commodity products The results obtained from customers are usually a pleasant experience or not Due to this intangible attribute, it is difficult for users to assess the quality of ground services of the airline at the airport before, during and even after using the service
To reduce uncertainty when using the ground services of airlines at airports, customers will have to search for information sources such as brand, reputation of the airline in the market and the cost is commensurate with the quality of service as expected
(3) Simultaneity of production and consumption
Production and consumption processes cannot be separated Customers will decide the production of the service An airline cannot create a service without a passenger Customers are both consumers and direct participants in the production process The production of the service ends when the consumer process ends
Therefore, customers who need to use ground services from airlines at airports must contact the service provider directly to satisfy their needs
This is a feature that clearly shows the difference between goods and services
Production and consumption of goods are two separate activities Goods normally produced at a production facility are then shipped to where most customers want to buy
Production and consumption of goods are considered to be separate
Airline ground services are provided by people (ground service staffs) to people (airline passengers) People may require high- or low-quality service
Example: Passengers may not buy airline tickets if the service attitude of the ground staff is not professional, the check-in staff cannot guarantee the aisle seat if the passenger does not pre-reserve seat before the flight or not request at check-in counter Airline ground services at the airport are highly labor-intensive and characterized by high levels of communication between ground staffs and airline passengers The quality of these interactions affects service perception Especially human behavior, the attitude of communication with each other, the willingness to participate and meet the needs of each party, the motives and personal characteristics are interplaying in the production process and service consumption
This requires managers to focus more on selecting, training, arranging and treating employees to provide high quality services
Because customers want to be taken care of as individual people, the airline's ground services are often personalized and heterogeneous Airlines are difficult to provide service standards to satisfy all customers in all circumstances because that satisfaction depends on the perception and expectations of each customer
SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF GROUND
Development strategy and the direction of ground services development of
3.1 Development strategy and the direction of ground services development of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport until 2023
Some solutions to improve ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai
2.1 Introduction to Vietnam National Airlines 2.2 Status of ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
2.3 Evaluation of ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
Chapter 3: Some solutions to improve the quality of ground services of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
3.1 Development strategy and the direction of ground services development of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport until 2023
3.2 Some solutions to improve ground service quality of Vietnam Airlines at Noibai International Airport
Some recommendations
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ON THE AIRLINE’S GROUND SERVICE QUALITY AT THE AIRPORT
1.1 Airline’s ground service quality at the airport
When the economy grows, the role of services becomes increasingly important and services have become the research objects of many different fields: from economics to culture, law, from administrative to faculty learn management
Therefore, there are many different concepts of services and different ways of understanding the meaning of services
From the economic point of view, the nature of the service is the supply to meet the needs such as tourism, fashion, health care and it is profitable
According to Philip Kotler, “ A service is an act of performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything Its implementation may or may not be tied to a physical product”
According to Article 4.2, Law on Price No 11/2012 / QH13 of the National Assembly of Vietnam dated June 20, 2012 which is effective from January 1, 2013:
“Service is intangible goods Its production process and consumption process are inseparable, including all types of services in the system of Vietnamese products in accordance with the law”
The most widely used current service concept is the concept according to ISO
9004 -2: 1991E: " Service is the result of interaction between suppliers and customers, thanks to the activities of supplier to meet consumer needs ”
From the above definition it can be understood that, what is not cultivated, not producted is a service For example: hotels, entertainment, insurance, health care, education, finance, banking, transportation, legal consultance
* Definition of airline’s ground service quality at the airport
From the approach of ISO about service, we can give the definition of ground services of an airline at the airport as follows:
Airline’s ground services at the airport are the result of interaction between the ground service provider at the airport of an airline and the customer, as well as the activities of the provider in order to meet the needs of consumers of airline ground services at airports
1.1.2 The role of ground services of airlines at airports
Air services during flight operation are constituted by many processes
According to the supply process, air services are comprised of two main groups: ground services at airports and inflight services Boundary is used to identify the responsibilities of each division involved in the services is aircraft door
The inflight services mean the services provided on an aircraft These services include meals, newspapers and magazines, entertainment activities on airplanes such as video games, movies, wheelchairs, air plane comfort These services are significantly different between business class and economy class
Airline‟s ground services at airports have a particularly important role in getting the final service product: perfect inflight services The final product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is to satisfy all the pre-and post-flight needs of the passengers such as suitable seating for passengers on the plane, reservation of meals, baggage handling, load balancing, guide and control passengers on board, serve safe and efficient flights, passenger dissembarkation control, and get checked baggage, guide guests on related tranfer procedures If the airline's ground service is not performed, no flight will be operated This is an indispensable chain in the process of providing air services to customers
Ground service is the first stage of passengers experiencing the service of the airline at the airport It creats an initial impression to passengers during the process of using the services A bad first impression will create a negative impact on passegers' perception of the entire service of the entire flight In particular, in the case of unusual flights, the time passengers use the ground service at the airport usually lasts longer, even more than the time the passengers take the flight The delay itself has caused passenger dissatisfaction If the airline's ground service is perfectly provided, it will be an opportunity to receive empathy from passengers and thereby build trust and loyalty of passsengers with the airline
1.1.3 Characteristics of airline’s ground services at airports
The ground service of the airline at the airport has all 5 characteristics of the service in general and it also has its own characteristics
General characteristics of the service
Service is a special product, has many different characteristics from other goods There are five characteristics that are often given to differentiate services from other types of goods: 1) zero loss, 2) intangibility, 3) simultaneity, 4) and 5) storage inability
As other services, ground services of airlines at airports also have the full characteristics of general services:
Skills and ability to provide services will not be lost after the airline‟s service providers complete ground services This success will create the prestige and enhance the image and brand of the airline with its customers
People play an absolutely important role in the quality of ground services of airlines at airports
The quality of ground services of airlines at airports is assessed according to the perception of customer satisfaction
The product of the ground service of the airline at the airport is invisible It is the process of communicating between ground staff and passengers to carry out procedures for passengers, taking passengers to the aircraft These specific service steps customers cannot see, taste, touch, smell before using as other commodity products The results obtained from customers are usually a pleasant experience or not Due to this intangible attribute, it is difficult for users to assess the quality of ground services of the airline at the airport before, during and even after using the service
To reduce uncertainty when using the ground services of airlines at airports, customers will have to search for information sources such as brand, reputation of the airline in the market and the cost is commensurate with the quality of service as expected
(3) Simultaneity of production and consumption
Production and consumption processes cannot be separated Customers will decide the production of the service An airline cannot create a service without a passenger Customers are both consumers and direct participants in the production process The production of the service ends when the consumer process ends
Therefore, customers who need to use ground services from airlines at airports must contact the service provider directly to satisfy their needs
This is a feature that clearly shows the difference between goods and services
Production and consumption of goods are two separate activities Goods normally produced at a production facility are then shipped to where most customers want to buy
Production and consumption of goods are considered to be separate
Airline ground services are provided by people (ground service staffs) to people (airline passengers) People may require high- or low-quality service
Example: Passengers may not buy airline tickets if the service attitude of the ground staff is not professional, the check-in staff cannot guarantee the aisle seat if the passenger does not pre-reserve seat before the flight or not request at check-in counter Airline ground services at the airport are highly labor-intensive and characterized by high levels of communication between ground staffs and airline passengers The quality of these interactions affects service perception Especially human behavior, the attitude of communication with each other, the willingness to participate and meet the needs of each party, the motives and personal characteristics are interplaying in the production process and service consumption
This requires managers to focus more on selecting, training, arranging and treating employees to provide high quality services
Because customers want to be taken care of as individual people, the airline's ground services are often personalized and heterogeneous Airlines are difficult to provide service standards to satisfy all customers in all circumstances because that satisfaction depends on the perception and expectations of each customer