Evaluating the quality of airport service using the fuzzy multi‐criteria decision‐making method: a case study of Taiwanese airports

In today's highly competitive air transportation environment, the quality of airport service is an important issue. In this paper, we present a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method for the evaluation of the quality of airport service. The data are collected from the passengers who depart from two international airports in Taiwan. The fuzzy MCDM model is defuzzied using the inverse function arithmetic representation method. The results show that the average quality of the Taoyuan International Airport service is better than that of the Kaohsiung International Airport service. This paper also analyses the quality of airport service using the fuzzy expert system to improve the performance of airport service. The analysis results show that the Kaohsiung International Airport and the Taoyuan International Airports' improvement efforts should be concentrated on seven and five specific service items, respectively. The findings of this paper are to help the decision-makers and the managers of airports improve the quality of airport service. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[1]  Chung-Hsing Yeh,et al.  A survey analysis of service quality for domestic airlines , 2002, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[2]  Enrique Herrera-Viedma,et al.  Fuzzy Qualitative Models to Evaluate the Quality on the Web , 2004, MDAI.

[3]  Abraham Kandel,et al.  A new fuzzy arithmetic , 1999, Fuzzy Sets Syst..

[4]  Jeng-Ming Yih,et al.  An evaluation of airline service quality using the fuzzy weighted SERVQUAL method , 2011, Appl. Soft Comput..

[5]  Rong Li Fuzzy method in group decision making , 1999 .

[6]  John Ozment,et al.  Assessment of the Relationship Between Productivity and Performance Quality in the U.S. Domestic Airline Industry , 1998 .

[7]  Chen-Tung Chen,et al.  Fuzzy Credibility Relation Method for Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Problems , 1997, Inf. Sci..

[8]  Nicole Adler,et al.  Measuring airport quality from the airlines' viewpoint: an application of data envelopment analysis , 2001 .

[9]  Lotfi A. Zadeh,et al.  The Concepts of a Linguistic Variable and its Application to Approximate Reasoning , 1975 .

[10]  Alexandre G. de Barros,et al.  Evaluation of level of service for transfer passengers at airports , 2007 .

[11]  M. Sadiq Sohail,et al.  Measuring Service Quality at King Fahd International Airport , 2005, Int. J. Serv. Stand..

[12]  C. Yeh,et al.  Evaluating passenger services of Asia-Pacific international airports , 2003 .

[13]  Jin-woo Park,et al.  The effect of airline service quality on passengers' behavioural intentions: a Korean case study , 2004 .

[14]  Roberto Rendeiro Martín-Cejas,et al.  Tourism service quality begins at the airport , 2006 .

[15]  John A. Martilla,et al.  Importance-Performance Analysis , 1977 .

[16]  Andrew A. Stern Pricing and differentiation strategies , 1989 .

[17]  Richard Bellman,et al.  Decision-making in fuzzy environment , 2012 .

[18]  Christian D. Klose,et al.  Fuzzy rule-based expert system for short-range seismic prediction , 2002 .

[19]  L. J. Truitt,et al.  Evaluating service quality and productivity in the regional airline industry , 1994 .

[20]  Fareena Sultan,et al.  International service variants: airline passenger expectations and perceptions of service quality , 2000 .

[21]  Jin-Woo Park,et al.  Passenger perceptions of service quality: Korean and Australian case studies , 2007 .

[22]  C.-C. Chou,et al.  A model for the evaluation of airport service quality , 2009 .

[23]  S. C. Wirasinghe,et al.  Development of level of service standards for airport facilities: Application to São Paulo International Airport , 2007 .

[24]  Safak Aksoy,et al.  AIRLINE SERVICES MARKETING BY DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN FIRMS: DIFFERENCES FROM THE CUSTOMERS' VIEWPOINT , 2003 .

[25]  S. H. Chen,et al.  GRADED MEAN INTEGRATION REPRESENTATION OF GENERALIZED FUZZY NUMBER , 1999 .

[26]  Lotfi A. Zadeh,et al.  Fuzzy Sets , 1996, Inf. Control..

[27]  Hui-Hua Tsai,et al.  Using fuzzy numbers to evaluate perceived service quality , 2000, Fuzzy Sets Syst..

[28]  Navee Chiadamrong,et al.  An integrated fuzzy multi-criteria decision making method for manufacturing strategies , 1999 .

[29]  Mao-Jiun J. Wang,et al.  A fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method for facility site selection , 1991 .

[30]  Lotfi A. Zadeh,et al.  A Theory of Approximate Reasoning , 1979 .

[31]  Yu-Hern Chang,et al.  Examining airline service quality from a process perspective , 2005 .

[32]  Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur,et al.  The evaluation of airline service quality by fuzzy MCDM. , 2002 .

[33]  Ching-Lai Hwang,et al.  Multiple Attribute Decision Making: Methods and Applications - A State-of-the-Art Survey , 1981, Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems.

[34]  Ch.-Ch Chou The canonical representation of multiplication operation on triangular fuzzy numbers , 2003 .

[35]  L. F. Cunningham,et al.  Assessing Service Quality as an Effective Management Tool: The Case of the Airline Industry , 1994 .

[36]  Rong-Tsu Wang,et al.  A comparative analysis of the operational performance of Taiwan's major airports , 2004 .

[37]  Chien-Chang Chou,et al.  The Representation of Multiplication Operation on Fuzzy Numbers and Application to Solving Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision Making Problems , 2006, PRICAI.

[38]  Alexandre G. de Barros,et al.  Overall level of service measures for airport passenger terminals , 2008 .

[39]  Chen-Tung Chen,et al.  A fuzzy approach to select the location of the distribution center , 2001, Fuzzy Sets Syst..

[40]  E A Morash,et al.  TOWARD MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICE QUALITY , 1994 .

[41]  F. Pakdil,et al.  Expectations and perceptions in airline services: An analysis using weighted SERVQUAL scores , 2007 .

[42]  M. Amparo Vila,et al.  On a canonical representation of fuzzy numbers , 1998, Fuzzy Sets Syst..

[43]  D. Gilbert,et al.  PASSENGER EXPECTATIONS AND AIRLINE SERVICES: A HONG KONG BASED STUDY , 2003 .

[44]  K. Gourdin BRINGING QUALITY BACK TO COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL , 1988 .

[45]  Ioannis P. Vlahavas,et al.  Monitoring water quality through a telematic sensor network and a fuzzy expert system , 2007, Expert Syst. J. Knowl. Eng..

[46]  J. R. Brent Ritchie,et al.  Competition, Fares and Fences— Perspective of the Air Traveler , 1980 .

[47]  Philemon Oyewole Consumer's Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Satisfaction with Services in the Airline Industry , 2001 .

[48]  K. Elliott,et al.  Service Quality in the Airline Industry: Are Carriers Getting an Unbiased Evaluation from Consumers? , 1993 .

[49]  T. O'Brien,et al.  Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in the Commercial Airline Industry , 1993 .

[50]  Chien-Chang Chou,et al.  A fuzzy MCDM method for solving marine transshipment container port selection problems , 2007, Appl. Math. Comput..

[51]  L. Etherington,et al.  Establishing a Measure of Airline Preference for Business and Nonbusiness Travelers , 1984 .

[52]  Tak-Kee Hui,et al.  Tourists’ satisfaction, recommendation and revisiting Singapore , 2007 .

[53]  L. Zadeh Fuzzy sets as a basis for a theory of possibility , 1999 .

[54]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Delivering quality service : balancing customer perceptions and expectations , 1990 .

[55]  D. Dubois,et al.  Operations on fuzzy numbers , 1978 .