Customer Satisfaction of Air Travelers at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos

Abstract

The study focuses on customer satisfaction of air travelers at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja. It aimed at ascertaining the level of quality service rendered to air passengers and to design ways to improve the level of customer satisfaction by meeting up to customer expectation. This study adopted a survey research design using questionnaire as the only instrument to gather information from the respondents. The population of passengers was not known and so the sample size (n) was 384 which was determined using infinite population formula:  n = (z/e)² (p)(1-p) with  1.96 confidence level (z), where p is 0.5.A total of 384 copies of questionnaire were administered personally by the researcher with help of a research assistant using convenience sampling technique. The study was carried out twice within two months interval and multiple samples were taken in each of these studies. The study revealed that passengers had adequate knowledge on the current state of the airport and prefer Air Peace, Arik and Azman Airlines to others due to adequate safety and security, effective communication of flight information, accurate time keeping for flight departures/arrivals and good quality of service. There were no cases of missing luggage, fluctuating penalty charges for extra luggage and delay in retrieving of luggage upon arrival. Among the challenges confronting Murtala Mohammed International Airport were high total cost of aviation fuel, safety and security, lack of adequate funding, inadequate airport infrastructure, lack of enabling regulatory framework, inadequate manpower development, and domination by foreign airlines. Problems encountered by passengers with service providers are hoarding and overcharging of tickets and overbooking of flights.  The ways to satisfy air travelers and meeting their expectations are stable operating environment, skills acquisition and capacity building of service providers, preventive maintenance of airport infrastructure, provision of adequate safety and security standards, quick response to air traveler’s complaints.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, aviation, air travelers, airline, airports.