SERVICE QUALITY, SATIFACTION, AND

CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN A FULL-

SERVICE DOMESTIC AIRLINE IN
THAILAND
Chotivanich, Piyakanit. International Journal of Arts & Sciences;
Cumberland Vol. 7, Iss. 3, (2014): 161-169.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify "A model for building loyalty toward the service of
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (Thai Airways)" to be used with the
domestic operations. The objectives of this study were: 1. to explore the factors regarding the
sample's demographic, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty to the domestic flights of the
Thai Airways, 2. to analyze the relationships and the size of effect between the factors of the
service quality level, the satisfaction, and the loyalty to Thai Airways' domestic flights, and 3. to
develop a causal structural equation model of the loyalty to the domestic flights of Thai Airways.
To create the quantitative and qualitative research tools, the researcher has built a series of
questionnaires from a collection of concepts, theories, principles, problems, and obstacles
involved in operations related to service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty; obtained from the
literature review. Both tools were consistent with each other and the research hypotheses, in
order to produce reliable results.

Headnote

The purpose of this study was to identify "A model for building loyalty toward the service of
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (Thai Airways)" to be used with the
domestic operations. As the competition among domestic airline businesses grew fiercer with the
clash of pricing strategies, and the increasing number of competitors; Thai Airways, as a high-
cost company, had to adjust its cost structure to maintain its market share. The airline needed to
utilize alliance strategy and increase the number of flights to attract middle-level passengers to
maintain its profit. Nonetheless, Thai Airways still retained well its passengers and their trust in
many domestic flights. By cause of the aforementioned competitive situations and the
passengers' cost-concerned behavioral shift, the researcher has conducted this study with the goal
of informing Thai Airways about the service quality process that can create satisfaction and
loyalty among Thai Airways' passengers. The objectives of this study were: 1) to explore the
factors regarding the sample's demographic, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty to the
domestic flights of the Thai Airways, 2) to analyze the relationships and the size of effect
between the factors of the service quality level, the satisfaction, and the loyalty to Thai Airways'
domestic flights 3) to develop a causal structural equation model of the loyalty to the domestic
flights of Thai Airways. To create the quantitative and qualitative research tools, the researcher
has built a series of questionnaires from a collection of concepts, theories, principles, problems,
and obstacles involved in operations related to service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty; obtained
from the literature review. Both tools were consistent with each other and the research
hypotheses, in order to produce reliable results. The findings revealed that, the customer-
perceived service quality, the customer satisfaction, and the customer loyalty were at high levels.
The causal structural equation modeling of the loyalty showed influential relationships among
the latent variable components, in which the service quality demonstrated no direct influence on
loyalty to Thai Airways' domestic flights, but instead held an indirect influence through the
satisfaction factor. The satisfaction factor, as implied, directly influenced the customer loyalty.
This implied that, the service quality improvement would positively affect customer satisfaction
and hence maintain their loyalty.

Keywords: Airline industry, Thai airways, Service quality, Satisfaction, loyalty.

Introduction

At the moment of this study, Thailand played very important economic, social, political and
cultural roles in the Southeast Asian region among the members of the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC). This resulted in Thailand being an international focal point of commerce and
investment. Moreover, the AEC members gravitated to the economics growth from the
investments in agricultural, industrial, and tourism segments; resulting in a dramatic increase of
logistic activities between the countries. The liberalization of multiple types of services and
products also promoted Thailand's growth in transportation segment, including logistics and
human transit operations. As a geographical center of the economic community, Thailand's
freight and tourism operations also flourished. In this regard, the value of Thailand's aerial
logistics and passenger transport operations had increased from THB126,500 million to THB
140,000 million during 2012, or an 11.2 percent increase from 2011; due to various supporting
factors including the increased tourism, the aviation liberalization, the increased investment in
the region, and the improved infrastructure which promoted more convenient air transportations;
both in terms of flight network coverage and the capacity to accommodate a higher volume of air
transport. Regarding the tourism industry, the amount of incoming tourists to ASEAN will
increase and dramatically affect the aviation industry growth (Kasikorn Research Centre: 2009).
The growth trend of logistics and tourism sectors have had great effect on Thailand's economics,
especially the tourism sector which ranked among the first three positions of the Thailand's top
earning export industries. Thus, the Thai government has been giving great emphasis on the
tourism industry, as one of the main strategic sources of foreign currency income (Tourism
Authority of Thailand: 2009). From the aforementioned factors: the logistic and passenger
transport growth trend, the increasing tourism, and the government strategic emphasis on the
industry; one can identify a cmcial opportunity to timely increase the number of flights and
routes to accommodate both domestic and international demands (Kasikorn Research Centre:
2009).

The international airline business of Thai Airways was on the growing trend, both in terms of
passenger number and income. However, currently, the domestic airline industry of Thailand
was in a fiercely competitive situation due to the increasing number of domestic airlines, which
positioned themselves as low-cost airlines; and especially the passengers' behavioral shift toward
a more cost-concerned aerial transportation. These resulted in a gap in competitive advantage,
driving Thai Airways to lose its market share to low-cost airlines. Even though the air traffic in
Thailand has dramatically increased after the initial market entry of a low-cost airline in 2003,
driving the market size from 7.2 million passengers in 2003 to 15.4 million passengers in 2012;
the market share of Thai Airways still reduced from 85% in 2003 to 36% in 2011. Although Thai
Airways' domestic passengers have increased since then by 16.8% to 6.1 millions in 2012,
increasing its market share to 39.8% in 2012; the domestic market segment still generated only
10% of the company's total revenue.

Being a full-service airline with a higher cost of operation, the company had to devise strategies
to rescue its profit: by cutting a number of non-profiting domestic flights, and implementing
indirect competition tactics, this involved allowing an allied low-cost airline: "Nok Air", to be its
market substitute. Moreover, to fill in the competitive gap created by direct cost competition
among the domestic aviation operations, the company has launched a new airline operation under
the name "Thai Smile" in the mid 2012, whose target was the middle-income customers. Thai
Smile stood as a competitive entity whose purpose was to win back the market share from other
low-cost competitors, both in the domestic and regional market. Even though the outcome of
such strategy; together with success of proactive marketing campaign and the strong growth of
tourism industry; would increase Thai Airways' cabin factor from 6.2% to 76.6% in 2012, the
company still operated at a loss due to the cost related to the new investment to secure a new air
fleet and improve the competitive edge of the existing fleet. (Thai Airways International Public
Company Limited: 2012)

To recapitulate, Thai Airway was under the pressure of cost competition and had to cut the
losing routes, and devise the alliance and low-cost subsidiary strategies to compete with its low-
cost rivals. As a result, the number of passenger has increased but the investment-related cost has
also risen at the same time. Despite the continuous growth of competing airlines, including Thai
Airways' own ally, Thai Airways still owned twice as many domestic routes as its rivals. The
passengers still favored Thai Airways' flight experience and the airline members proved to be a
readily available source of customers for the company. This was due to the customer impression
achieved through Thai Airways' service quality. Thus, Thai Airways stayed true to its core
competency by emphasizing on service excellence, to seek a higher return from its loyal group of
passengers and members.

The vision of Thai Airways was to consider customers as its first priority, by providing an
excellent service with a flavor of Thai-style charm, according to the motto: "Rak Kun Taw Fah"
(or literally: (We) Love You as (We love) The Sky. This has resulted in an extensive focus on
service quality as a primary strategic goal, which has earned Thai Airways a multitude of
international and regional awards. Thai Airways has positioned itself as a leader in service
quality, and continued to communicate such positioning to both domestic and international
customers (Thai Airways International Public Company Limited: 2012). Such a strong
positioning has impressed passengers of all levels, and carried Thai Airways through the strong
competition. To expand on this point, Thai Airways has readily maintain its standard in
infrastructure, number of flights and routes, and the superior service compared to the local rivals;
at the same time as making a huge adaptive effort to cut loss and implement its alliance and mid-
level subsidiary airline strategy. These have ensured that Thai Airways can maintain its domestic
customers' continuing trust while still persevere in the volatile price war.
At the current state of the industry, Thai Airways has to face its low-cost rivals with its own
different cost structure. The company would need to keep developing its service to ensure
customer satisfaction, which is crucial to loyalty, profit and ultimately its own survival.
Therefore, the researcher saw fit to explore the concept of loyalty building through service
quality in domestic airlines: Thai Airways, which could lead to further quality improvement of
such airlines.

From the aforementioned competitive situation, the customers behavior shift in cost concern, and
the adaptive efforts of Thai Airways; the researcher decided to conduct this study to inform Thai
Airways of the service quality process that would create satisfaction and eventually, loyalty, to
Thai Airways' service. The purposes of this study were as followed: 1) to explore the factors
regarding the sample's demographic, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty to the domestic
flights of the Thai Airways, 2) to analyze the relationships and the magnitude of influence
between the factors of the service quality level, the satisfaction, and the loyalty to Thai Airways'
domestic flights 3) to develop a causal structural equation model of the loyalty to the domestic
flights of Thai Airways.

Research Methodology

The researcher has implemented a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. For the
quantitative element, a survey research was used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
of the service quality elements through the use of questionnaires among the samples, which was
also the analysis to determine the weight of each factor to create a measurement standard. While
the qualitative element's goal was to explore the immeasurable, including feeling, thought, and
experience; so that one can understand the conceptual vision and subjectively describe the
passengers' experience. The detail was gathered from a population of concern, which was
identified by referencing domestic marketing strategy of Thai Airways.

The population involved in quantitative research was the 461,100 passengers of Thai Airways'
domestic flight during the month of May, 2012. The main subjects involved in the qualitative
research were the marketing expert of Thai Airways, marketing academics, and financially
successful frequent flyers. The sample size of the quantitative research was 500 persons, which
followed the standard of structural equation modeling analysis (Hair et al.: 2006). The subjects of
the qualitative research numbered 11 persons, including: 5 employees of Thai Airways, 3
marketing specialists or academics, and 3 financially successful frequent flyers.

This study consisted of three variables: 1) Independent variable: the service quality factor; with
the latent variables of trust and reliability, responsiveness, guaranteeing, mindfulness, and any
perceivable positive feelings 2) Mediator variable: the satisfaction factor; with the latent
variables of the gladness of having chose the service, the pride in one's carrier choice, the
regarding of the carrier choice as a right decision, the exceeding of expectation, the relative
satisfaction compared to other airlines, the suitability to one's lifestyle, the passenger's need
being met, the value compared to ticket fare, the usefulness of the service, the essential service
being provided, comfort, and the overall satisfaction itself; and 3) Dependent variable: the
loyalty factor; with the latent variables of the invitation to others to use the service, the
willingness to use the service even with price risen, the willingness to pay more, the pride of
being a member, the mention of positive aspect of the airline to others, the recommendation to
others to use the service, Thai Airways being the first choice of carrier, willingness to use the
service again within the next two to three years, the loyal feeling to Thai Airways, the pride to
use the service, the bad feeling if someone would negatively mention Thai Airways, and the
continuous maintaining of relationship by the customer.

The researcher has defined the conceptual model from the literature review, to achieve the
objectives of the study and test the statistics.

The researcher has established four hypotheses for this study. Hypothesis 1 (H1): The service
quality factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer loyalty toward the domestic
airlines of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 2 (H2): The service
quality factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer satisfaction of the domestic airlines
of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 3 (H3): The satisfaction
factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer loyalty to the domestic airlines of Thai
Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 4 (H4): The service quality factor
has an indirect influence on the factor of customer loyalty to the domestic airlines of Thai
Airways International Public Company Limited; through the satisfaction factor.

The quality assessment of the research tool was done through the validity and the reliability tests.
The validity test has indicated a valid index of item-objective congruence between the
questionnaires and the knowledge provided by the experts. The reliability test was done by trying
out the well-revised questionnaires with the passengers that have similar characteristics to the
samples, then the Cronbach's Alpha Method was applied to calculated the coefficient of
consistency between those passengers, with the results of .94 for the service quality factor, .88
for the satisfaction factor, and .89 for the loyalty factor; which met Nunnally's criteria.
(Nunnally: 1978)

To build a tool for in-depth research interviews, the researcher has constructed interview scripts
originated from the concepts, theories, related-works, problems and obstacles regarding aviation
businesses related to this study, and also made sure they were consistent to the research
hypotheses. The researcher has validated the script with the experts, including; employees of
Thai Airways and marketing academics: done in consistency with the research hypotheses; then
modified the contents and tried out the in-depth interviews with individuals with similar
characteristics to the subjects, to test for the reliability and identify the pitfalls of the interview
scripts. Finally, the scripts were used to interview the actual subjects according to the qualitative
research method.

Descriptive statistics used to analyze the demographic data of the samples were frequency and
percentage; while mean, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, and coefficient of variance were
used to analyze service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty factors. LISREL was applied to analyze
the causal structural equations, and the size of effect between the latent variables to test the
hypotheses. Inferential statistics used for path analysis consisted of: confirmatory factor analysis,
standardized regression weights, unstandardized regression weights, variances, covariances,
correlations, and square multiple correlations. The identification and development processes of
the causal structural equation model for the loyalty to Thai Airways' domestic flights, were done
through the structural equation modeling (SEM). The Goodness of Fit was tested with chi-
square, df, relative chi-square, GFI, AGFI, CFI, RMR, and RMSEA.

Results

Quantitative Findings

The results revealed statistical consistencies between the theoretical model and the empirical
data. The test statistics are also very consistent to the empirical model. The goodness of fit tests
proved the practicality of the model. The overall model fit well with the collected information: as
demonstrated by the consistency between the causal structural equation model for loyalty, and
the empirical data, considering the goodness-of-fit statistics: Relative c2 = 1.87; GFI = .92;
AGFI = .90; RMR = .017; SRMR= .027; RMSEA = .042; P-Value for Test of Close Fit = 1.00;
NFI = .99; IFI= 1.00; CFI = 1.00; CN = 318.85; which all well satisfied the criteria set by
Joreskog & Sorbom (1996). While the hypotheses tests revealed the following results:

H1 was not accepted. This indicated that the service quality factor had no statistically significant
direct relationship to the loyalty factor. H2 was accepted; indicating that the service quality
factor had a direct relationship to the satisfaction factor at the level of significance of 0.01, and a
positive effect size of 0.85. H3 was accepted; indicating that the satisfaction factor had a direct
relationship to the loyalty factor at the level of significance of 0.01, and a positive effect size of
0.92. H4 was accepted; indicating that the service quality factor had an indirect relationship to
the loyalty factor at the level of significance of 0.01, and a positive effect size of 0.78, through
the satisfaction factor.

The effort to identify "a model for building loyalty to the service of Thai Airways International
Public Company Limited" has revealed a consistency between the empirical data collected from
the samples and the study's conceptual framework: the latent variables positively affected each
factor variables; and the service quality positively affected the satisfaction and hence the loyalty.
(Figure 2)

The structural equation model has demonstrated significant causal relationships that the latent
elements had toward the three factors. The three most influential latent elements of each factor
were identified as followed: 1) for the service quality factor: the perceivable positive feelings,
the mindfulness, and the trust and reliability 2) for the satisfaction factor: the responsiveness to
passenger's need, the fare price value, and the suitability to passenger's lifestyle 3) for the loyalty
factor: the feeling of loyalty to the airline itself, the pride of using the service, and the positive
recommendation to others.

Qualitative Findings

The qualitative results were acquired from the in-depth interviews with the 11 aforementioned
expert subjects: Thai Airways employees, marketing experts, and the financial successful
frequent flyers. Related concepts were checked to validate the study results and the latent
variables: 1) the concept of service quality affecting the satisfaction and thus create loyalty, has
been consistently validated by all subjects. Moreover, a point has been made from the overall
subject opinions that the service quality that exceed the other airlines would create loyalty. 2)
The concept of satisfaction affecting the loyalty to the company has been consistently validated
by all subjects. The overall opinions pointed to the relationship between the superior service
quality (compare to rivals) and the high satisfactory rate, which would then, leads to loyalty. 3)
The concept of service quality indirectly affecting the loyalty, has also been consistently
validated by all subjects, with the overall opinion implying that only the type of service that
actually leave an impression would create a lasting effect of satisfaction and thus, loyalty.

The latent variables were conceptually explored by the in-depth interviews with the subjects: 1)
for the concept of service quality building, the subjects consistently agreed with all the latent
elements involved(trust and reliability, responsiveness, mindfulness, guaranteeing, and the
perceived feelings), and also expressed opinions that Thai Airways should market its strength in
Thai-style service and the Perceivable Feelings service concept, to rise above the competitors in
term of sheer service quality; and aimed for three aspects of quality improvement: safety,
service, and personnel. 2) for the concept of customer satisfaction improvement (in this regard,
the satisfaction elements evaluated after the service usage were used to represent the passengers'
response to the whole experience), the subjects has suggested that Thai Airways should
communicate to the passengers the perceived value of the fare price compared to its rivals, by
constructing a service system that far exceed competitors' and involve a sincere mindfulness to
the customers' need. They also suggested that the customer satisfaction must be achieved on 4
levels: the service differentiation, the creation of overall value gain for the customer, the concern
for overall cost expended by the customers, and the actual value delivered to the customer. 3) for
the concept of loyalty creation (consisting of the attitude toward the airline, the willingness to
return for more service and spread good words about the company, and the intimate feeling for
Thai Airways), the subjects has expressed their opinions that Thai Ways should focus on creating
a service level exceeding the competitors' and utilizing membership strategy to build a general
customer in to a Member Advocate or a Partner; and consider the company's target group to be
one big family of loyal passengers. They also suggested that the Royal Orchid Plus project was
an important factor for continuous recurring demands.

Discussion

The discussion below would follow the order of the research objectives:

The service quality factor has demonstrated a direct influence upon the satisfaction factor: this
finding was also consistent with the insight gained from the in-depth interviews, of which the
expressed opinions concentrated on the creation of a service that come from a sincere
mindfulness, and exceed those of the rivals. This was consistent with the work of Llach Marimon
Alonso-Almeida & Bemado (2013), which stated that the effectiveness of service operation, for
instant, the effectiveness of seat booking (Zins: 2001), and the subjective quality of such service;
has an influence upon customer loyalty. A study of Mayr & Zins (2011) also supported such
claim, that airline businesses have put great emphasis upon the service element, as well as a
study of Rhoades & Waguespack (2000) which suggest a proper scoring method for service
quality: that a business should set a certain level of expectation and meet that expectation in their
execution of service, to achieve customer satisfaction. A study of Bejou & Palmer (2005) also
supported our claim, in that the attempt to deliver a consistently high service standard could
bring upon a long term relationship with passengers.

The satisfaction factor has a direct influence on the loyalty factor: this was consistent with the
insight gained from the in-depth interviews, in which a service that exceed those of rivals would
be able to create a high level of satisfaction, which would lead to loyalty to Thai Airways. The
insight was consistent with a study by Chang & Chen (2007) which stated that, diverse and
differentiated premium service could build passenger loyalty; and also a study by Wu & Wang
(2012) which implied that the customers would give precedence to a company's effort to
maintain their satisfaction and loyalty, and that a loyalty program can affect the customer
satisfaction, which would then further improve their loyalty to the company. A study of
Noordhoff, Pauwels, & Odekerken-Schroder. (2004) also supported our findings, that many
hotels and aviation businesses tended to use membership card to promote loyalty among
customers. By utilizing such card, a company can be informed about its customers' interests,
satisfactions, and loyalty.

The causal structural equation modeling of the loyalty showed influential relationships among
the latent variable components, in which the service quality demonstrated no direct influence on
loyalty to Thai Airways' domestic flights, but instead held an indirect influence through the
satisfaction factor at the level of significant of 0.01. The satisfaction factor directly influenced
the customer loyalty at the level of significant of 0.01. This implied that, the service quality
improvement would positively affect customer satisfaction and hence maintain their loyalty: a
point consistent with the opinions expressed during the in-depth interviews, of which
emphasized that the relative superiority of service can bring forth satisfaction with a certain
airline, which in turn create loyalty. When Thai Airways improved its service, the passengers'
number shall grow along with their satisfaction and hence, loyalty. This fit with the study result
of Llach, Marimon, Alonso - Almeida, & Bernardo (2013): the likability and the effectiveness of
an online flight reservation, has an effect upon the customer loyalty. To expand on this, the
customers impressed by the effectiveness of such system were, in a way, perceiving a specific
value provided by the company, and such perception brings loyalty. This went along with a study
by Forgas, Moliner, Sanchez, & Palau (2010) which indicated that the quality of service and
price were important elements of satisfaction toward a low-cost airline; and with the study of
Hutchinson et al. (2009) which demonstrate the influence of service quality upon perceived
value, satisfaction, expectation after usage (willingness to return, word-of-mouth
recommendation, and decision to use alternatives); and also with the study of Mayr & Zins.
(2011) which indicated the influence of service quality and overall satisfaction upon the
perceived value of service compare to the paid price, and upon the customers' own perceptive
analysis of the received service, which in turn affected the loyalty and the word-of-month
recommendation.

To conclude, the causal structural equation model of the loyalty toward Thai Airways' domestic
airlines was consistence with the empirical data, taken into account the variables of service
quality, satisfaction, and loyalty. The research suggested a further exploration into the service
quality subjects, as it was a crucial factor of domestic flight satisfaction. The behavioral aspects
of satisfied passengers of Thai Airways should be qualitatively studied, with a focus on the effort
to identify the format of service which would bring forth the customer satisfaction. This would
allow Thai Airways' marketers to understand the process of satisfaction building and the process
of a highly effective service; and be able to embrace the loyalty generating factors learnt in this
study, in creating pride among the passenger using Thai Airways' service, and let them spread
word-of-mouth positivity. By studying these loyalty creating factors, one could understand how
the passengers come to be loyal to specific domestic airlines, and see the opportunity for further
research into such process that would create an even stronger loyalty among the already loyal
passengers. By conducting a behavioral qualitative research among the loyal Thai Airways
passengers, one could gain an in-depth insight on the satisfaction and behaviors shown by such
customer, and utilize such knowledge to create and identify further marketing opportunity.

References

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AuthorAffiliation

Piyakanit Chotivanich

Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University, Thailand

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi "model untuk membangun loyalitas terhadap
layanan Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (Thai Airways)" untuk digunakan dengan
operasi domestik. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah: 1. untuk mengeksplorasi faktor-faktor mengenai
kualitas, kepuasan, dan loyalitas sampel sampel terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, 2. untuk
menganalisis hubungan dan ukuran pengaruh antara faktor-faktor tingkat kualitas layanan, kepuasan,
dan loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, dan 3. untuk mengembangkan model
persamaan struktural kausal dari loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways. Untuk
membuat alat penelitian kuantitatif dan kualitatif, peneliti telah membangun serangkaian kuesioner dari
kumpulan konsep, teori, prinsip, masalah, dan hambatan yang terlibat dalam operasi yang berkaitan
dengan kualitas layanan, kepuasan, dan kesetiaan; diperoleh dari tinjauan pustaka. Kedua alat itu
konsisten satu sama lain dan hipotesis penelitian, agar bisa menghasilkan hasil yang andal.

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi "model untuk membangun loyalitas
terhadap layanan Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (Thai Airways)" untuk
digunakan dengan operasi domestik. Seiring persaingan bisnis penerbangan domestik semakin
sengit dengan benturan strategi penetapan harga, dan meningkatnya jumlah pesaing; Thai
Airways, sebagai perusahaan dengan biaya tinggi, harus menyesuaikan struktur biaya untuk
mempertahankan pangsa pasarnya. Perusahaan penerbangan tersebut perlu memanfaatkan
strategi aliansi dan meningkatkan jumlah penerbangan untuk menarik penumpang tingkat
menengah untuk mempertahankan keuntungannya. Meskipun demikian, Thai Airways tetap
mempertahankan penumpangnya dengan baik dan kepercayaan mereka terhadap banyak
penerbangan domestik. Dengan situasi persaingan yang kompetitif tersebut dan pergeseran
perilaku yang menarik perhatian penumpang, peneliti telah melakukan penelitian ini dengan
tujuan memberi tahu Thai Airways tentang proses kualitas layanan yang dapat menciptakan
kepuasan dan loyalitas di kalangan penumpang Thailand Airways. Tujuan dari penelitian ini
adalah: 1) untuk mengeksplorasi faktor-faktor mengenai kualitas, kepuasan, dan loyalitas sampel
sampel terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, 2) untuk menganalisis hubungan dan
ukuran pengaruh antara faktor-faktor tingkat kualitas layanan, kepuasan, dan loyalitas terhadap
penerbangan domestik Thailand Airways 3) untuk mengembangkan model persamaan struktural
kausal dari loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways. Untuk membuat alat
penelitian kuantitatif dan kualitatif, peneliti telah membangun serangkaian kuesioner dari
kumpulan konsep, teori, prinsip, masalah, dan hambatan yang terlibat dalam operasi yang
berkaitan dengan kualitas layanan, kepuasan, dan kesetiaan; diperoleh dari tinjauan pustaka.
Kedua alat itu konsisten satu sama lain dan hipotesis penelitian, agar bisa menghasilkan hasil
yang andal. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa, kualitas layanan yang dirasakan pelanggan, kepuasan
pelanggan, dan loyalitas pelanggan berada pada tingkat tinggi. Pemodelan persamaan struktural
kausal kesetiaan menunjukkan hubungan yang berpengaruh di antara komponen variabel laten, di
mana kualitas layanan tidak menunjukkan pengaruh langsung pada loyalitas terhadap
penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, namun memiliki pengaruh tidak langsung melalui faktor
kepuasan. Faktor kepuasan, sebagaimana tersirat, secara langsung mempengaruhi loyalitas
pelanggan. Hal ini menyiratkan bahwa, peningkatan kualitas layanan secara positif akan
mempengaruhi kepuasan pelanggan dan karenanya menjaga loyalitas mereka.

pengantar
Pada saat studi ini, Thailand memainkan peran ekonomi, sosial, politik dan budaya yang sangat
penting di kawasan Asia Tenggara di antara anggota Komunitas Ekonomi ASEAN (AEC). Hal
ini mengakibatkan Thailand menjadi titik fokus internasional untuk perdagangan dan investasi.
Selain itu, anggota AEC tertarik pada pertumbuhan ekonomi dari investasi di segmen pertanian,
industri, dan pariwisata; menghasilkan peningkatan dramatis aktivitas logistik antar negara.
Liberalisasi berbagai jenis layanan dan produk juga mendorong pertumbuhan segmen
transportasi di Thailand, termasuk logistik dan operasi transit manusia. Sebagai pusat geografis
komunitas ekonomi, operasi pengangkutan dan pariwisata Thailand juga berkembang. Dalam hal
ini, nilai logistik transportasi udara dan penumpang Thailand naik dari THB126.500 juta menjadi
THB 140.000 juta pada tahun 2012, atau meningkat 11,2 persen dari tahun 2011; karena
berbagai faktor pendukung termasuk meningkatnya pariwisata, liberalisasi penerbangan,
peningkatan investasi di daerah, dan perbaikan infrastruktur yang mendorong transportasi udara
lebih nyaman; baik dari sisi cakupan jaringan penerbangan maupun kapasitas untuk menampung
volume transportasi udara yang lebih tinggi. Mengenai industri pariwisata, jumlah wisatawan
yang masuk ke ASEAN akan meningkat dan secara dramatis mempengaruhi pertumbuhan
industri penerbangan (Kasikorn Research Center: 2009). Tren pertumbuhan sektor logistik dan
pariwisata sangat berpengaruh pada ekonomi Thailand, terutama sektor pariwisata yang berada
di antara tiga posisi pertama industri ekspor produktif Thailand. Dengan demikian, pemerintah
Thailand telah memberikan penekanan besar pada industri pariwisata, sebagai salah satu sumber
strategis utama pendapatan mata uang asing (Tourism Authority of Thailand: 2009). Dari faktor-
faktor tersebut di atas: tren pertumbuhan transportasi logistik dan penumpang, meningkatnya
pariwisata, dan penekanan strategis pemerintah terhadap industri; seseorang dapat
mengidentifikasi kesempatan untuk meningkatkan jumlah penerbangan dan rute secara tepat
waktu untuk mengakomodasi tuntutan domestik dan internasional (Kasikorn Research Center:
2009).

Bisnis penerbangan internasional Thai Airways terus berkembang, baik dari sisi jumlah
penumpang maupun pendapatan. Namun, saat ini, industri penerbangan domestik Thailand
berada dalam situasi persaingan yang sangat ketat karena meningkatnya jumlah maskapai
domestik, yang menempatkan diri sebagai maskapai bertarif rendah; dan terutama pergeseran
perilaku penumpang menuju transportasi udara yang lebih mahal. Ini menghasilkan selisih
keunggulan kompetitif, mendorong Thai Airways kehilangan pangsa pasarnya dengan maskapai
bertarif rendah. Meskipun lalu lintas udara di Thailand meningkat secara dramatis setelah
masuknya pasar awal maskapai bertarif rendah pada tahun 2003, mendorong ukuran pasar dari
7,2 juta penumpang pada tahun 2003 menjadi 15,4 juta penumpang pada tahun 2012; pangsa
pasar Thai Airways masih berkurang dari 85% di tahun 2003 menjadi 36% di tahun 2011.
Meskipun jumlah penumpang domestik Thailand Airways meningkat sejak saat itu sebesar
16,8% sampai 6,1 juta pada tahun 2012, meningkatkan pangsa pasarnya menjadi 39,8% di tahun
2012; Segmen pasar dalam negeri masih menghasilkan hanya 10% dari total pendapatan
perusahaan.

Sebagai maskapai penerbangan dengan layanan penuh dengan biaya operasi yang lebih tinggi,
perusahaan harus merancang strategi untuk menyelamatkan keuntungannya: dengan mengurangi
sejumlah penerbangan domestik yang tidak menguntungkan, dan menerapkan taktik persaingan
tidak langsung, ini melibatkan mengizinkan maskapai penerbangan murah bersekutu : "Nok
Air", untuk menjadi penggantinya pasarnya. Selain itu, untuk mengisi kesenjangan kompetitif
yang diciptakan oleh persaingan biaya langsung di antara operasi penerbangan domestik,
perusahaan tersebut telah meluncurkan operasi penerbangan baru dengan nama "Thai Smile"
pada pertengahan 2012, yang targetnya adalah pelanggan berpendapatan menengah. Senyuman
Thailand berdiri sebagai entitas kompetitif yang tujuannya untuk memenangkan kembali pangsa
pasar dari pesaing berbiaya rendah lainnya, baik di pasar domestik maupun regional. Meskipun
hasil dari strategi tersebut; bersama dengan keberhasilan kampanye pemasaran proaktif dan
pertumbuhan industri pariwisata yang kuat; akan meningkatkan rasio kabin Thailand Airways
dari 6,2% menjadi 76,6% di tahun 2012, perusahaan masih beroperasi dengan kerugian karena
biaya yang berkaitan dengan investasi baru untuk mengamankan armada udara baru dan
meningkatkan daya saing armada yang ada. (Thai Airways International Public Company
Limited: 2012)

Untuk rekapitulasi, Thai Airway berada di bawah tekanan persaingan biaya dan harus
mengurangi rute yang hilang, dan merancang aliansi dan strategi subsidi rendah untuk bersaing
dengan saingan berbiaya rendahnya. Akibatnya, jumlah penumpang meningkat namun biaya
investasi terkait juga meningkat pada saat bersamaan. Meskipun pertumbuhan yang terus
menerus dari maskapai penerbangan yang bersaing, termasuk sekutu Thai Airways sendiri, Thai
Airways masih memiliki dua kali lebih banyak rute domestik sebagai pesaingnya. Para
penumpang masih menyukai pengalaman terbang Thai Airways dan anggota maskapai
penerbangan terbukti menjadi sumber pelanggan yang siap tersedia bagi perusahaan tersebut. Hal
ini disebabkan oleh kesan pelanggan yang dicapai melalui kualitas layanan Thai Airways.
Dengan demikian, Thai Airways tetap setia pada kompetensi intinya dengan menekankan pada
keunggulan layanan, untuk mendapatkan tingkat pengembalian yang lebih tinggi dari kelompok
penumpang dan anggota loyalnya.

Visi Thai Airways adalah untuk mempertimbangkan pelanggan sebagai prioritas pertama,
dengan memberikan layanan terbaik dengan cita rasa gaya Thailand, sesuai dengan moto: "Rak
Kun Taw Fah" (atau secara harfiah: (Kami) mencintaimu sebagai ( Kami menyukai) Langit Hal
ini telah menghasilkan fokus yang luas pada kualitas layanan sebagai tujuan strategis utama,
yang telah memberi Thai Airways banyak penghargaan internasional dan regional Thai Airways
telah memposisikan diri sebagai pemimpin dalam kualitas layanan, dan terus berlanjut
mengkomunikasikan posisi tersebut kepada pelanggan domestik dan internasional (Thai Airways
International Public Company Limited: 2012). Posisi yang kuat seperti ini telah mengesankan
penumpang dari semua tingkatan, dan membawa Thai Airways melalui persaingan yang
kuat.Untuk memperluas hal ini, Thai Airways telah dengan mudah mempertahankan standarnya
di bidang infrastruktur, jumlah penerbangan dan rute, dan layanan superior dibandingkan dengan
rival lokal; pada saat bersamaan membuat upaya adaptif yang sangat besar untuk mengurangi
kerugian dan menerapkannya. aliansi dan strategi maskapai penerbangan anak tingkat menengah.
Ini memastikan bahwa Thai Airways dapat mempertahankan kepercayaan konsumen
domestiknya sementara tetap bertahan dalam perang harga yang bergejolak.
Pada kondisi industri saat ini, Thai Airways harus menghadapi saingan berbiaya rendah dengan
struktur biaya tersendiri. Perusahaan perlu terus mengembangkan layanannya untuk memastikan
kepuasan pelanggan, yang sangat penting bagi kesetiaan, keuntungan dan pada akhirnya
kelangsungan hidupnya sendiri. Oleh karena itu, peneliti merasa perlu untuk mengeksplorasi
konsep pengembangan loyalitas melalui kualitas layanan di maskapai domestik: Thai Airways,
yang dapat menyebabkan peningkatan kualitas lebih lanjut dari maskapai penerbangan tersebut.

Dari situasi persaingan yang begitu ketat, perubahan perilaku pelanggan dalam masalah biaya,
dan upaya adaptif Thai Airways; peneliti memutuskan untuk melakukan penelitian ini untuk
memberi tahu Thai Airways tentang proses kualitas layanan yang akan menciptakan kepuasan
dan kesetiaan, pada layanan Thai Airways. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut: 1)
untuk mengeksplorasi faktor-faktor mengenai kualitas demografi, kualitas layanan, kepuasan,
dan loyalitas sampel terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, 2) untuk menganalisis
hubungan dan besarnya pengaruh antara faktor-faktor dari tingkat kualitas layanan, kepuasan,
dan loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thailand Airways 3) untuk mengembangkan model
persamaan struktural kausal dari loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways.

Metodologi Penelitian

Peneliti telah menerapkan kombinasi metode kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Untuk unsur kuantitatif,
penelitian survei digunakan untuk melakukan analisis faktor konfirmatori (CFA) terhadap
elemen kualitas layanan melalui penggunaan kuesioner antar sampel, yang juga merupakan
analisis untuk mengetahui bobot masing-masing faktor untuk membuat standar pengukuran. .
Sedangkan tujuan elemen kualitatif adalah mengeksplorasi tak terukur, termasuk perasaan,
pikiran, dan pengalaman; sehingga seseorang dapat memahami visi konseptual dan secara
subjektif menggambarkan pengalaman penumpang. Rincian dikumpulkan dari populasi yang
menjadi perhatian, yang diidentifikasi dengan mengacu pada strategi pemasaran domestik Thai
Airways.

Populasi yang terlibat dalam penelitian kuantitatif adalah 461.100 penumpang penerbangan
domestik Thai Airways selama bulan Mei 2012. Subjek utama yang terlibat dalam riset kualitatif
adalah pakar pemasaran Thai Airways, akademisi pemasaran, dan selebaran sukses yang sukses
secara finansial. Ukuran sampel dari penelitian kuantitatif adalah 500 orang, yang mengikuti
standar analisis pemodelan persamaan struktural (Hair et al .: 2006). Subjek penelitian kualitatif
berjumlah 11 orang, termasuk: 5 karyawan Thai Airways, 3 spesialis pemasaran atau akademisi,
dan 3 selebaran frequent seller yang sukses secara finansial.
Penelitian ini terdiri dari tiga variabel: 1) Variabel bebas: faktor kualitas pelayanan; dengan
variabel laten kepercayaan dan kehandalan, daya tanggap, jaminan, perhatian, dan perasaan
positif yang dirasakan 2) Variabel mediator: faktor kepuasan; dengan variabel laten dari
kegembiraan karena telah memilih layanan, kebanggaan dalam pilihan carrier seseorang,
mengenai pilihan pembawa sebagai keputusan yang tepat, harapan yang melebihi, kepuasan
relatif dibandingkan dengan maskapai lain, kesesuaian dengan gaya hidup seseorang, kebutuhan
penumpang dipenuhi, nilainya dibandingkan tarif tiket, kegunaan layanan, layanan penting yang
disediakan, kenyamanan, dan kepuasan keseluruhan itu sendiri; dan 3) Variabel dependen: faktor
loyalitas; Dengan variabel laten undangan kepada orang lain untuk menggunakan layanan ini,
kemauan untuk menggunakan layanan tersebut bahkan dengan harga meningkat, kemauan untuk
membayar lebih, kebanggaan menjadi anggota, menyebutkan aspek positif maskapai
penerbangan kepada orang lain, rekomendasi kepada orang lain untuk menggunakan layanan ini,
Thai Airways menjadi pilihan pertama dari carrier, kemauan untuk menggunakan layanan ini
lagi dalam dua sampai tiga tahun ke depan, perasaan setia kepada Thai Airways, kebanggaan
untuk menggunakan layanan ini, perasaan buruk jika seseorang secara negatif menyebutkan Thai
Airways, dan terus menjaga hubungan dengan pelanggan.

Peneliti telah mendefinisikan model konseptual dari tinjauan literatur, untuk mencapai tujuan
penelitian dan menguji statistik.This study consisted of three variables: 1) Independent variable:
the service quality factor; with the latent variables of trust and reliability, responsiveness,
guaranteeing, mindfulness, and any perceivable positive feelings 2) Mediator variable: the
satisfaction factor; with the latent variables of the gladness of having chose the service, the pride
in one's carrier choice, the regarding of the carrier choice as a right decision, the exceeding of
expectation, the relative satisfaction compared to other airlines, the suitability to one's lifestyle,
the passenger's need being met, the value compared to ticket fare, the usefulness of the service,
the essential service being provided, comfort, and the overall satisfaction itself; and 3)
Dependent variable: the loyalty factor; with the latent variables of the invitation to others to use
the service, the willingness to use the service even with price risen, the willingness to pay more,
the pride of being a member, the mention of positive aspect of the airline to others, the
recommendation to others to use the service, Thai Airways being the first choice of carrier,
willingness to use the service again within the next two to three years, the loyal feeling to Thai
Airways, the pride to use the service, the bad feeling if someone would negatively mention Thai
Airways, and the continuous maintaining of relationship by the customer.

The researcher has defined the conceptual model from the literature review, to achieve the
objectives of the study and test the statistics.

The researcher has established four hypotheses for this study. Hypothesis 1 (H1): The service
quality factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer loyalty toward the domestic
airlines of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 2 (H2): The service
quality factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer satisfaction of the domestic airlines
of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 3 (H3): The satisfaction
factor has a direct influence on the factor of customer loyalty to the domestic airlines of Thai
Airways International Public Company Limited. Hypothesis 4 (H4): The service quality factor
has an indirect influence on the factor of customer loyalty to the domestic airlines of Thai
Airways International Public Company Limited; through the satisfaction factor.

The quality assessment of the research tool was done through the validity and the reliability tests.
The validity test has indicated a valid index of item-objective congruence between the
questionnaires and the knowledge provided by the experts. The reliability test was done by trying
out the well-revised questionnaires with the passengers that have similar characteristics to the
samples, then the Cronbach's Alpha Method was applied to calculated the coefficient of
consistency between those passengers, with the results of .94 for the service quality factor, .88
for the satisfaction factor, and .89 for the loyalty factor; which met Nunnally's criteria.
(Nunnally: 1978)

Metodologi Penelitian

Peneliti telah menerapkan kombinasi metode kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Untuk unsur kuantitatif,
penelitian survei digunakan untuk melakukan analisis faktor konfirmatori (CFA) terhadap
elemen kualitas layanan melalui penggunaan kuesioner antar sampel, yang juga merupakan
analisis untuk mengetahui bobot masing-masing faktor untuk membuat standar pengukuran. .
Sedangkan tujuan elemen kualitatif adalah mengeksplorasi tak terukur, termasuk perasaan,
pikiran, dan pengalaman; sehingga seseorang dapat memahami visi konseptual dan secara
subjektif menggambarkan pengalaman penumpang. Rincian dikumpulkan dari populasi yang
menjadi perhatian, yang diidentifikasi dengan mengacu pada strategi pemasaran domestik Thai
Airways.

Populasi yang terlibat dalam penelitian kuantitatif adalah 461.100 penumpang penerbangan
domestik Thai Airways selama bulan Mei 2012. Subjek utama yang terlibat dalam riset kualitatif
adalah pakar pemasaran Thai Airways, akademisi pemasaran, dan selebaran sukses yang sukses
secara finansial. Ukuran sampel dari penelitian kuantitatif adalah 500 orang, yang mengikuti
standar analisis pemodelan persamaan struktural (Hair et al .: 2006). Subjek penelitian kualitatif
berjumlah 11 orang, termasuk: 5 karyawan Thai Airways, 3 spesialis pemasaran atau akademisi,
dan 3 selebaran frequent seller yang sukses secara finansial.

Penelitian ini terdiri dari tiga variabel: 1) Variabel bebas: faktor kualitas pelayanan; dengan
variabel laten kepercayaan dan kehandalan, daya tanggap, jaminan, perhatian, dan perasaan
positif yang dirasakan 2) Variabel mediator: faktor kepuasan; dengan variabel laten dari
kegembiraan karena telah memilih layanan, kebanggaan dalam pilihan carrier seseorang,
mengenai pilihan pembawa sebagai keputusan yang tepat, harapan yang melebihi, kepuasan
relatif dibandingkan dengan maskapai lain, kesesuaian dengan gaya hidup seseorang, kebutuhan
penumpang dipenuhi, nilainya dibandingkan tarif tiket, kegunaan layanan, layanan penting yang
disediakan, kenyamanan, dan kepuasan keseluruhan itu sendiri; dan 3) Variabel dependen: faktor
loyalitas; Dengan variabel laten undangan kepada orang lain untuk menggunakan layanan ini,
kemauan untuk menggunakan layanan tersebut bahkan dengan harga meningkat, kemauan untuk
membayar lebih, kebanggaan menjadi anggota, menyebutkan aspek positif maskapai
penerbangan kepada orang lain, rekomendasi kepada orang lain untuk menggunakan layanan ini,
Thai Airways menjadi pilihan pertama dari carrier, kemauan untuk menggunakan layanan ini
lagi dalam dua sampai tiga tahun ke depan, perasaan setia kepada Thai Airways, kebanggaan
untuk menggunakan layanan ini, perasaan buruk jika seseorang secara negatif menyebutkan Thai
Airways, dan terus menjaga hubungan dengan pelanggan.

Peneliti telah mendefinisikan model konseptual dari tinjauan literatur, untuk mencapai tujuan
penelitian dan menguji statistik.

Peneliti telah menetapkan empat hipotesis untuk penelitian ini. Hipotesis 1 (H1): Faktor kualitas
layanan berpengaruh langsung terhadap faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap perusahaan
penerbangan domestik Perusahaan Umum Thailand Airways International. Hipotesis 2 (H2):
Faktor kualitas layanan berpengaruh langsung terhadap faktor kepuasan pelanggan maskapai
domestik Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hipotesis 3 (H3): Faktor
kepuasan berpengaruh langsung terhadap faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap perusahaan
penerbangan domestik Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. Hipotesis 4 (H4):
Faktor kualitas layanan berpengaruh tidak langsung terhadap faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap
perusahaan penerbangan domestik Perusahaan Umum Thailand Airways International; melalui
faktor kepuasan.

Penilaian kualitas alat penelitian dilakukan melalui uji validitas dan reliabilitas. Uji validitas
telah menunjukkan indeks kesesuaian item-objective yang valid antara kuesioner dan
pengetahuan yang diberikan oleh para ahli. Uji reliabilitas dilakukan dengan mencoba kuesioner
yang direvisi dengan baik dengan penumpang yang memiliki karakteristik yang mirip dengan
sampel, kemudian Metode Alpha Cronbach diterapkan untuk menghitung koefisien konsistensi
antara penumpang tersebut, dengan hasil 0,94 untuk layanan faktor kualitas, 0,88 untuk faktor
kepuasan, dan 0,89 untuk faktor loyalitas; yang memenuhi kriteria Nunnally. (Nunnally: 1978)

Biaya operasinya, perusahaan harus merancang strategi untuk menyelamatkan keuntungannya:

dengan mengurangi sejumlah penerbangan domestik yang tidak menguntungkan, dan
menerapkan taktik persaingan tidak langsung, ini melibatkan mengizinkan maskapai
penerbangan bersekutu murah: "Nok Air", untuk menjadi pengganti pasarnya. Selain itu, untuk
mengisi kesenjangan kompetitif yang diciptakan oleh persaingan biaya langsung di antara
operasi penerbangan domestik, perusahaan tersebut telah meluncurkan operasi penerbangan baru
dengan nama "Thai Smile" pada pertengahan 2012, yang targetnya adalah pelanggan
berpendapatan menengah. Senyum Thailand berdiri sebagai Peneliti telah menetapkan empat
hipotesis untuk penelitian ini. Hipotesis 1 (H1): Faktor kualitas layanan berpengaruh langsung
terhadap faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap perusahaan penerbangan domestik Perusahaan
Umum Thailand Airways International. Hipotesis 2 (H2): Faktor kualitas layanan berpengaruh
langsung terhadap faktor kepuasan pelanggan maskapai domestik Thai Airways International
Public Company Limited. Hipotesis 3 (H3): Faktor kepuasan berpengaruh langsung terhadap
faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap perusahaan penerbangan domestik Thai Airways
International Public Company Limited. Hipotesis 4 (H4): Faktor kualitas layanan berpengaruh
tidak langsung terhadap faktor loyalitas pelanggan terhadap perusahaan penerbangan domestik
Perusahaan Umum Thailand Airways International; melalui faktor kepuasan.
Penilaian kualitas alat penelitian dilakukan melalui uji validitas dan reliabilitas. Uji validitas
telah menunjukkan indeks kesesuaian item-objective yang valid antara kuesioner dan
pengetahuan yang diberikan oleh para ahli. Uji reliabilitas dilakukan dengan mencoba kuesioner
yang direvisi dengan baik dengan penumpang yang memiliki karakteristik yang mirip dengan
sampel, kemudian Metode Alpha Cronbach diterapkan untuk menghitung koefisien konsistensi
antara penumpang tersebut, dengan hasil 0,94 untuk layanan faktor kualitas, 0,88 untuk faktor
kepuasan, dan 0,89 untuk faktor loyalitas; yang memenuhi kriteria Nunnally. (Nunnally: 1978)

Untuk membangun sebuah alat untuk wawancara penelitian yang mendalam, peneliti telah
membuat naskah wawancara yang berasal dari konsep, teori, karya terkait, masalah dan
hambatan mengenai bisnis penerbangan yang terkait dengan penelitian ini, dan juga memastikan
bahwa penelitian tersebut konsisten dengan hipotesis penelitian. . Peneliti telah memvalidasi
naskah tersebut dengan para ahli, termasuk; karyawan Thai Airways dan akademisi pemasaran:
dilakukan secara konsisten dengan hipotesis penelitian; kemudian memodifikasi isinya dan
mencoba wawancara mendalam dengan individu yang memiliki karakteristik serupa terhadap
subjek, untuk menguji reliabilitas dan mengidentifikasi perangkap skrip wawancara. Akhirnya
skrip digunakan untuk mewawancarai subyek yang sebenarnya sesuai dengan metode penelitian
kualitatif.

Statistik deskriptif yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data demografi sampel adalah frekuensi
dan persentase; Sedangkan mean, standar deviasi, skewness, kurtosis, dan koefisien varians
digunakan untuk menganalisis kualitas layanan, kepuasan, dan faktor loyalitas. LISREL
diterapkan untuk menganalisis persamaan struktural kausal, dan ukuran efek antara variabel laten
untuk menguji hipotesis. Statistik inferensial yang digunakan untuk analisis jalur terdiri dari:
analisis faktor konfirmatori, bobot regresi standar, bobot regresi, varians, kovarian, korelasi, dan
korelasi kuadrat yang tidak standar. Proses identifikasi dan pengembangan model persamaan
struktural kausal untuk kesetiaan terhadap penerbangan domestik Thailand Airways, dilakukan
melalui pemodelan persamaan struktural (structural equation modeling / SEM). Goodness of Fit
diuji dengan chi-square, df, chi square, GFI, AGFI, CFI, RMR, dan RMSEA.

Hasil

Temuan Kuantitatif

Hasilnya menunjukkan konsistensi statistik antara model teoritis dan data empiris. Statistik uji
juga sangat konsisten dengan model empiris. Kegunaan tes fit membuktikan kepraktisan model.
Model keseluruhan sesuai dengan informasi yang dikumpulkan: seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh
konsistensi antara model persamaan struktural kausal untuk loyalitas, dan data empiris, dengan
mempertimbangkan statistik goodness of fit: Relatif c2 = 1,87; GFI = 0,92; AGFI = 0,90; RMR
= .017; SRMR = .027; RMSEA = .042; Nilai P untuk Uji Close Fit = 1.00; NFI = 0,99; IFI =
1.00; CFI = 1.00; CN = 318.85; yang semuanya memenuhi kriteria yang ditetapkan oleh
Joreskog & Sorbom (1996). Sementara tes hipotesis mengungkapkan hasil sebagai berikut:

H1 tidak diterima Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa faktor kualitas layanan tidak memiliki hubungan
langsung yang signifikan secara statistik dengan faktor loyalitas. H2 diterima; menunjukkan
bahwa faktor kualitas pelayanan memiliki hubungan langsung dengan faktor kepuasan pada
tingkat signifikansi 0,01, dan ukuran efek positif sebesar 0,85. H3 diterima; menunjukkan bahwa
faktor kepuasan memiliki hubungan langsung dengan faktor loyalitas pada tingkat signifikansi
0,01, dan memiliki efek positif sebesar 0,92. H4 diterima; menunjukkan bahwa faktor kualitas
pelayanan memiliki hubungan tidak langsung dengan faktor loyalitas pada tingkat signifikansi
0,01, dan ukuran efek positif sebesar 0,78, melalui faktor kepuasan.

Upaya untuk mengidentifikasi "model untuk membangun loyalitas terhadap layanan Thai
Airways International Public Company Limited" telah mengungkapkan konsistensi antara data
empiris yang dikumpulkan dari sampel dan kerangka konseptual studi: variabel laten
berpengaruh positif terhadap setiap variabel faktor; dan kualitas layanan secara positif
mempengaruhi kepuasan dan karenanya loyalitas. (Gambar 2)

Model persamaan struktural telah menunjukkan hubungan kausal yang signifikan yang dimiliki
elemen laten terhadap tiga faktor. Tiga elemen laten yang paling berpengaruh dari masing-
masing faktor diidentifikasi sebagai berikut: 1) untuk faktor kualitas layanan: perasaan positif
yang dirasakan, perhatian, dan kepercayaan dan keandalan 2) untuk faktor kepuasan: responsif
terhadap kebutuhan penumpang, tarif nilai harga, dan kesesuaian dengan gaya hidup penumpang
3) untuk faktor loyalitas: perasaan loyalitas terhadap maskapai itu sendiri, kebanggaan
menggunakan layanan, dan rekomendasi positif kepada orang lain.

Qualitative Findings

The qualitative results were acquired from the in-depth interviews with the 11 aforementioned
expert subjects: Thai Airways employees, marketing experts, and the financial successful
frequent flyers. Related concepts were checked to validate the study results and the latent
variables: 1) the concept of service quality affecting the satisfaction and thus create loyalty, has
been consistently validated by all subjects. Moreover, a point has been made from the overall
subject opinions that the service quality that exceed the other airlines would create loyalty. 2)
The concept of satisfaction affecting the loyalty to the company has been consistently validated
by all subjects. The overall opinions pointed to the relationship between the superior service
quality (compare to rivals) and the high satisfactory rate, which would then, leads to loyalty. 3)
The concept of service quality indirectly affecting the loyalty, has also been consistently
validated by all subjects, with the overall opinion implying that only the type of service that
actually leave an impression would create a lasting effect of satisfaction and thus, loyalty.

The latent variables were conceptually explored by the in-depth interviews with the subjects: 1)
for the concept of service quality building, the subjects consistently agreed with all the latent
elements involved(trust and reliability, responsiveness, mindfulness, guaranteeing, and the
perceived feelings), and also expressed opinions that Thai Airways should market its strength in
Thai-style service and the Perceivable Feelings service concept, to rise above the competitors in
term of sheer service quality; and aimed for three aspects of quality improvement: safety,
service, and personnel. 2) for the concept of customer satisfaction improvement (in this regard,
the satisfaction elements evaluated after the service usage were used to represent the passengers'
response to the whole experience), the subjects has suggested that Thai Airways should
communicate to the passengers the perceived value of the fare price compared to its rivals, by
constructing a service system that far exceed competitors' and involve a sincere mindfulness to
the customers' need. They also suggested that the customer satisfaction must be achieved on 4
levels: the service differentiation, the creation of overall value gain for the customer, the concern
for overall cost expended by the customers, and the actual value delivered to the customer. 3) for
the concept of loyalty creation (consisting of the attitude toward the airline, the willingness to
return for more service and spread good words about the company, and the intimate feeling for
Thai Airways), the subjects has expressed their opinions that Thai Ways should focus on creating
a service level exceeding the competitors' and utilizing membership strategy to build a general
customer in to a Member Advocate or a Partner; and consider the company's target group to be
one big family of loyal passengers. They also suggested that the Royal Orchid Plus project was
an important factor for continuous recurring demands.

Diskusi

Diskusi di bawah ini akan mengikuti urutan tujuan penelitian:

Faktor kualitas layanan telah menunjukkan pengaruh langsung pada faktor kepuasan: temuan ini
juga konsisten dengan wawasan yang diperoleh dari wawancara mendalam, yang pendapatnya
terkonsentrasi pada penciptaan layanan yang berasal dari perhatian penuh, dan melebihi yang
dari saingan. Hal ini sesuai dengan karya Llach Marimon Alonso-Almeida & Bemado (2013),
yang menyatakan bahwa efektivitas operasi layanan, untuk instan, efektivitas pemesanan kursi
(Zins: 2001), dan kualitas subjektif layanan tersebut; memiliki pengaruh terhadap loyalitas
pelanggan. Sebuah studi tentang Mayr & Zins (2011) juga mendukung klaim tersebut, bahwa
bisnis penerbangan telah memberikan penekanan besar pada elemen layanan, serta studi Rhoades
& Waguespack (2000) yang menyarankan metode penilaian yang tepat untuk kualitas layanan:
bahwa sebuah bisnis harus menetapkan tingkat ekspektasi tertentu dan memenuhi harapan
tersebut dalam pelaksanaan pelayanannya, untuk mencapai kepuasan pelanggan. Sebuah studi
tentang Bejou & Palmer (2005) juga mendukung klaim kami, karena upaya untuk memberikan
standar layanan yang tinggi secara konsisten dapat membawa pada hubungan jangka panjang
dengan para penumpang.

Faktor kepuasan memiliki pengaruh langsung terhadap faktor loyalitas: hal ini sesuai dengan
wawasan yang diperoleh dari wawancara mendalam, di mana layanan yang melebihi pesaingnya
diharapkan dapat menciptakan tingkat kepuasan yang tinggi, yang akan mengarah pada loyalitas
kepada Thai Airways. Wawasan itu konsisten dengan sebuah studi oleh Chang & Chen (2007)
yang menyatakan bahwa, layanan premium yang beragam dan berbeda dapat membangun
loyalitas penumpang; dan juga sebuah studi oleh Wu & Wang (2012) yang menyiratkan bahwa
pelanggan akan mendahulukan upaya perusahaan untuk menjaga kepuasan dan loyalitas mereka,
dan bahwa program loyalitas dapat mempengaruhi kepuasan pelanggan, yang selanjutnya akan
meningkatkan loyalitas mereka kepada perusahaan. Sebuah studi tentang Noordhoff, Pauwels, &
Odekerken-Schroder. (2004) juga mendukung temuan kami, bahwa banyak hotel dan bisnis
penerbangan cenderung menggunakan kartu anggota untuk mempromosikan loyalitas di antara
pelanggan. Dengan memanfaatkan kartu tersebut, perusahaan dapat mengetahui tentang
kepentingan pelanggan, kepuasan, dan loyalitasnya.

Pemodelan persamaan struktural kausal kesetiaan menunjukkan hubungan yang berpengaruh di

antara komponen variabel laten, di mana kualitas layanan tidak menunjukkan pengaruh langsung
pada loyalitas terhadap penerbangan domestik Thai Airways, namun memiliki pengaruh tidak
langsung melalui faktor kepuasan pada tingkat signifikan. dari 0,01. Faktor kepuasan secara
langsung mempengaruhi loyalitas pelanggan pada tingkat signifikansi 0,01. Hal ini menyiratkan
bahwa, peningkatan kualitas layanan secara positif akan mempengaruhi kepuasan pelanggan dan
karenanya mempertahankan loyalitas mereka: satu hal yang konsisten dengan pendapat yang
diungkapkan selama wawancara mendalam, yang menekankan bahwa keunggulan relatif layanan
dapat menghasilkan kepuasan dengan maskapai penerbangan tertentu. , yang pada gilirannya
menciptakan loyalitas. Ketika Thai Airways memperbaiki layanannya, jumlah penumpang akan
tumbuh seiring dengan kepuasan dan karenanya, kesetiaan. Ini sesuai dengan hasil studi Llach,
Marimon, Alonso - Almeida, & Bernardo (2013): kecocokan dan efektivitas reservasi
penerbangan secara online, berpengaruh pada loyalitas pelanggan. Untuk mengembangkan hal
ini, pelanggan yang terkesan dengan efektivitas sistem tersebut, dengan cara tertentu, memahami
nilai spesifik yang diberikan oleh perusahaan, dan persepsi tersebut membawa loyalitas. Ini
mengikuti sebuah studi oleh Forgas, Moliner, Sanchez, & Palau (2010) yang mengindikasikan
bahwa kualitas layanan dan harga merupakan elemen penting kepuasan terhadap maskapai
bertarif rendah; dan dengan studi Hutchinson dkk. (2009) yang menunjukkan pengaruh kualitas
layanan terhadap persepsi, kepuasan, harapan setelah penggunaan (kemauan untuk kembali,
rekomendasi dari mulut ke mulut, dan keputusan untuk menggunakan alternatif); dan juga
dengan studi Mayr & Zins. (2011) yang menunjukkan pengaruh kualitas layanan dan kepuasan
keseluruhan terhadap nilai layanan yang dirasakan dibandingkan dengan harga yang dibayarkan,
dan berdasarkan analisis persepsi pelanggan terhadap layanan yang diterima, yang pada
gilirannya mempengaruhi loyalitas dan kata-of- rekomendasi bulan.
Untuk menyimpulkan, model persamaan struktural kausal dari loyalitas terhadap maskapai
domestik Thailand Airways konsisten dengan data empiris, yang memperhitungkan variabel
kualitas layanan, kepuasan, dan loyalitas. Penelitian ini menyarankan eksplorasi lebih lanjut ke
dalam mata pelajaran kualitas layanan, karena ini merupakan faktor penting untuk kepuasan
penerbangan domestik. Aspek perilaku penumpang Thailand yang puas harus dikaji secara
kualitatif, dengan fokus pada upaya untuk mengidentifikasi format layanan yang akan
menghasilkan kepuasan pelanggan. Ini akan memungkinkan pemasar Thai Airways