Charter Flights Service Quality Perception as Contributing Factor to Customer Satisfaction

The rapid development of civil aviation and the consequent intensive development of mass tourism has made possible the creation of a separate, unique air transportation model - charter flights, which mainly operates flights to the most popular areas of mass tourism by order of tourist operators. The purpose of this study is to analyze the satisfaction of passengers on charter flights and determine the basic determinants of satisfaction at each stage of the flight such as - ground handling, passenger service on board the aircraft, cabin comfort, flight attendants etc. As part of the writing of this work, jointly with experts in the civil aviation industry, key determinants of passenger satisfaction were identified. Based on certain determinants of satisfaction, a survey was compiled to evaluate each stage of a charter flight performance. According to the survey results, 260 passengers of charter flights operated by Russian airlines were interviewed. Analysis of the data obtained allowed us to determine the most significant factors of passenger satisfaction. The first chapter discusses key categories and concepts of the area of research on passenger satisfaction of charter flights, gives a brief analysis of the activities of Russian and European airlines operating in this segment of the market, discusses the differences in Russian and foreign practice of charter flights. The second chapter of this research devoted to the methodology of analyzing data analysis. The results of the study, as well as their interpretation, are presented in the third chapter of the work. Based on the results obtained, practical recommendations are given for market participants - airlines and travel operators. It also describes the existing limitations that may be considered in future research.