Assessing the Determinants of Choice of Airline among Domestic Air Travelers in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The patronage or choice of an airline is determined by the airline’s ability to offer numerous service qualities toher passengers’ satisfaction. Several studies have identified numerous factors determining passengers’ choice ofairlines. However, there is still a paucity of information on the degree of determinants of these determiningfactors. This paper, therefore, examines the degree of influence these determinant factors have on domestic airpassengers’ choice of an airline in Lagos, Nigeria. Primary data were adopted using the structured questionnairethat focused on the demographic profiles of domestic air passengers, ranking of airline service qualities and thedeterminants of their choice of airline. The primary data were collected through 352 structured questionnaireforms administered by systematic random sampling method to 400 domestic air passengers at both the departureand arrival lounge of the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Terminal 2 (MM2) in Lagos. The resultsrevealed that Air Peace and Max Air ranked first and second respectively among the top ten operational airlinesin terms of service quality preference. Furthermore, the results of the hypothesis indicated that the passengerairfare and route availability influence domestic passengers’ choice of airline. The stepwise multiple regressionresults further indicated that passenger airfare exerted more influence at 89.2% (F=27889.785, p<0.05). Thestudy will help the airline’s marketing unit to identify the airline service quality they need to improve on, and itwill help policymakers not only in Nigeria but also all over the sub-continent to think about long-term strategiestowards the provision of sustainable airline services.