Analytical CRM at the Airlines: Managing Loyal Passengers Using Knowledge Discovery in Database

Abstract

Analytical customer relationship management (CRM) is critical to airlines for retaining loyal passengers. This study develops an analytical CRM system for managing different loyalty passengers using the knowledge discovery in database (KDD) process. Primarily two parts are composed the KDD process, including a weighted- evaluated loyalty model and a data mining technique-C5.0 decision tree. In addition, a case study of Taiwanese airline is applied to examine the theoretical process. Research results found that the member category and satisfactions with clear announcements during flight, airline physical image, reservation staff attitude, and airline punctuality represent differences between true-loyalty and attitudinal-loyalty passengers. Finally, the results of this study are not only useful for other Taiwanese airlines but can also be used to expand management information systems (MIS) to CRM for the airline industry.