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The impact of an aircraft's service environment on perceptions of in-flight food quality

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  • Messner, Wolfgang

Abstract

Airlines are currently striving to improve the quality and quantity of in-flight food, because research has shown that catering is a key attribute for a customer's satisfaction with airline service quality. But the role of an airline's service environment in forming customer perceptions about food quality has not yet been properly investigated. Using electronic word-of-mouth data from NÂ =Â 3996 airline passengers, this study deploys a linear regression model at multiple levels to relate perceived in-flight food quality with both the overall service environment and its formative components. The results clearly unveil the importance of an aircraft's service environment on perceived in-flight catering quality; perceptions of food quality are primarily influenced by the quality of cabin staff service, followed by entertainment and seat quality. Instead of continuing with the current practice of signing up top chefs to improve menus, airlines may instead consider putting their management focus on service improvements.

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  • Messner, Wolfgang, 2016. "The impact of an aircraft's service environment on perceptions of in-flight food quality," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 123-130.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:123-130
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.02.010
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    Cited by:

    1. David Rimbo & Rocky Nagoya & Ikin Solihin & Jorge Mongay, 2017. "Perceptions of Consumers in the Airline Industry Using a Qualitative Data Analysis Methodology: An Applied Research under an International Orientation," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(5), pages 22-28, May.
    2. Özlem Atalık & Mahmut Bakır & Şahap Akan, 2019. "The Role of In-Flight Service Quality on Value for Money in Business Class: A Logit Model on the Airline Industry," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Eunmin (Min) Hwang & Yen-Soon Kim & Hyo Geun Song, 2023. "Airline Passengers’ Willingness to Reserve Inflight Meals Online and Their Willingness to Pay for Meal Upgrades: The Case Study of U.S. Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, May.
    4. Fu, Yan-Kai, 2019. "An integrated approach to catering supplier selection using AHP-ARAS-MCGP methodology," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 164-169.
    5. Li, Wenhua & Yu, Suihuai & Pei, Huining & Zhao, Chuan & Tian, Baozhen, 2017. "A hybrid approach based on fuzzy AHP and 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic method for evaluation in-flight service quality," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 49-64.

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