Abstract

In recent years, the development rate of aviation industry in Turkey has ascended faster than the rate of the world
aviation industry. The number of airlines has been increasing with the supports of Turkish government to vitalize
the aviation sector. Therefore, for airline companies, understanding passenger expectations, satisfaction and
loyalty relationship has become very important because of tough competition in the industry.
The main objective of this study is to find therelationship among the above mentioned variables in Turkish
airline industry. As data collecting method in the study, 5-point Likert type self-report questionnaire including
demographic variables was used. The survey was conducted in June and July 2012 with voluntary participation
of the passengers waiting in both the domestic and international lines’ areas in four main Turkish airports. The
data was collected from 421 domestic flight passengers and 400 for international flight passengers. To analyze
the data, structural equation modeling was applied.
The results showed that reliability and facilities had a significant positive effecton customer satisfaction. In
addition customer satisfaction was found to be a significant determinant of customer loyalty. Based on the
findings, some suggestions for airline management were made and also study limitations were discussed.

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