Examining How Customer Service Quality Affects Passenger Contentment and Loyalty in the Indian Aviation Sector

The aviation industry has recently placed strong emphasis on the ongoing need to improve service quality to ensure maximum passenger satisfaction. With its dynamic and customer-centric nature, there is always room for innovation in airline operations. The effectiveness of airlines largely relies on service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. In response to intense competition in both developed and developing nations, it has become vital for airlines to consistently assess their service quality. Brand managers within the industry have identified several characteristics aimed at continuously delighting customers with efforts focused on monitoring customer satisfaction and fostering brand loyalty. This paper presents a conceptual framework to investigate how passengers' perception of service quality impacts their satisfaction and loyalty using Structural Equation Modeling based on data collected from 154 domestic airline passengers at Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi.The findings reveal that perceived service quality significantly influences passenger satisfaction which, in turn, plays a crucial role as a mediator between perceived service quality and passenger loyalty