China Southern Airlines Cabin Service Quality Evaluation based on SERVQUAL Model
Zhang, Ping (2025)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025050910170
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025050910170
Tiivistelmä
In recent years, China Southern Airlines has faced multiple challenges in the field of cabin service. Data shows that China Southern's cumulative loss from 2020-2024 exceeds RMB60 billion, with a net loss of RMB1,696 million in 2024, which may be partly due to the increased sensitivity of travellers to the cabin service experience, and the intensified competition among Airlines as well as high-speed rail. In addition, the cabin service of China Southern Airlines has introduced ‘ultra-thin seats’ for the purpose of reducing costs, prompting the public to question the balance between service quality and cost control at China Southern. Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need to systematically assess the quality of China Southern's cabin service, identify service shortcomings, and explore ways to enhance customer retention.
The core purpose of the research is to enhance customer experience and increase customer loyalty and brand value. This research takes passengers who have travelled on China Southern Airlines flights as interviewees and constructs a cabin service quality evaluation system based on the SERVQUAL model. Among them, according to the characteristics of airline cabin service authors added innovation and sustainability dimensions, and replaced assurance with safety. Through the questionnaire method, 216 questionnaires were designed and collected, and then the data reliability test was carried out, and 22 effective secondary indicators were finally screened out. Finally, the key issues in the existing cabin services of China Southern Airlines were analysed in depth through the overall expectation-perception gap and IPA, and improvement measures were proposed.
The results of the research show that China Southern Airlines' cabin service has significant advantages in terms of sustainability, while improvements are still needed in terms of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and innovation. Based on these, the author suggests relevant improvements to optimise the service quality structure. Although the research has some limitations due to the limited sample size, it could still provide some empirical research value for the evaluation of cabin service quality of China Southern Airlines.
The core purpose of the research is to enhance customer experience and increase customer loyalty and brand value. This research takes passengers who have travelled on China Southern Airlines flights as interviewees and constructs a cabin service quality evaluation system based on the SERVQUAL model. Among them, according to the characteristics of airline cabin service authors added innovation and sustainability dimensions, and replaced assurance with safety. Through the questionnaire method, 216 questionnaires were designed and collected, and then the data reliability test was carried out, and 22 effective secondary indicators were finally screened out. Finally, the key issues in the existing cabin services of China Southern Airlines were analysed in depth through the overall expectation-perception gap and IPA, and improvement measures were proposed.
The results of the research show that China Southern Airlines' cabin service has significant advantages in terms of sustainability, while improvements are still needed in terms of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and innovation. Based on these, the author suggests relevant improvements to optimise the service quality structure. Although the research has some limitations due to the limited sample size, it could still provide some empirical research value for the evaluation of cabin service quality of China Southern Airlines.