Criteria of quality assessment of regional airport services - A very last picture before the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Omnipresent globalisation causes integration of societies, economies and cultures, and air transport significantly facilitates it. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, air transport was one of the most dynamically developing types of transportation. The quality of airport services was measured, as it supports the development of air transport and airports in particular. As today the future of the air transport industry is not clear, it is essential to have the last picture of service quality assessment criteria before the airports' lockdown to sustain their development after reassumption. The study covered the operation of a regional international airport in Europe before the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A diagnostic survey was used in the study, and the data were collected through a questionnaire of 40 questions. The study covered 263 passengers who had used the services of the examined airport at least once before the lockdown. The collected data were statistically analysed. The main findings are that the passengers consider components of the quality of airport services in groups and not individually. In some groups of factors, the level of satisfaction varies depending on the frequency of airport use. The results are in accordance with the findings of other authors researching different airports. They should be considered when managing the airport and identifying the causes of low-quality services to improve them and eliminate or at least reduce passenger dissatisfaction, especially in the face of resumption of airport operations after the COVID-19 pandemic.