Abstract:
Service quality is an important aspect of airport management. As such, it reflects its
evolution from a primary focus on facilities and operations to a primary focus on
delivering a passenger-focused service experience. This research was inspired by the
need to assess overall airport performance based on the complete passenger
experience from departure to arrival terminals – a need that has not yet been
addressed in the research to date. Current models of airport service performance
segment the role of passenger experience at airports in individual service areas of
passengers and address said shortcoming by focusing on passenger-driven
experiences and their underlying service attributes. Specifically, it investigates the
question: “How do passenger-centered indicators translate the complete passenger
experience in assessing airport service performance?” To determine the impact of
passenger-centered indicators on airport service performance, the first data analysis
of responses from 303 participating passengers from Bandaranayake International
Airport Colombo concentrates on the investigation of important service factors and
their respective service attributes. The research results of the analysis uncover two
causal relationships between each set of airport domains (i.e., processing and non processing domains) and overall service performance. These domains are
represented by several service factors and their underlying service attributes. Thus,
the findings from the two analyses were used to refine the conceptual model and
consolidated in the Taxonomy of passenger activities (TOPA) Model and its
configuration of passenger-centered indicators.
