Browsing by Author "Mayer, Robert"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Airline brand management: a practical perspective to brand management in the airline industry
    (Elsevier, 2023-06-02) Sezgen, Eren; Mason, Keith J.; Mayer, Robert
    Measuring and managing airline services cannot be easily achieved using the tools developed to measure brands in goods and most other services industries due to some unique characteristics of the airline industry. This paper seeks to explain airline branding, brand management, and brand measurement from the perspective of airline marketing professionals. The aim is to identify customer-based brand equity (CBBE) measures appropriate to the unique nature of the airline industry. Furthermore, we explore the dimensions that drive brand equity in the airline industry. The paper uses semi-structured expert interviews to collect data from senior marketing executives working for both full-service and low-cost carriers, in addition to airline branding/marketing consultants. The findings reveal the factors that drive airline customer-based brand equity (CBBE) as awareness, functional and technical service performance, credibility, differentiation, value, satisfaction, and loyalty. The research encapsulates the basic dimensions of brand equity advocated in the branding literature but also some measures which are new to the airline branding literature (functional and technical service performance, and credibility). These measures are critical for airline managers as they attempt to build equity in their respective brands. Therefore, this research offers researchers and practitioners a better understanding of brand equity measurement and of brand equity formation for airlines.
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    Airport classification based on cargo characteristics
    (Elsevier, 2016-05-28) Mayer, Robert
    Air cargo has received little attention in airport research. In this paper, 114 airports are grouped according to their cargo business characteristics. Applying a hierarchical cluster analysis, the paper uses absolute (cargo tonnage) and relative measures (share of cargo work load units, of freighter movements and of international cargo) to establish the reliance of different airport types and groupings on air cargo. Eight distinct clusters are identified which show clear differences in the characteristics of the sample with regard to cargo activities. Geographic patterns of these airports are also revealed. For example, North American and European airports are characterised by features unique to these regions. Airports that are highly dependent on air cargo tend to benefit from a central location within networks of cargo airlines, while other airports with high cargo volumes generate these as a result of significant belly-capacity of passenger operations. Understanding the heterogeneity of cargo airports is important for future benchmarking studies in this field.
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    Crises and the resilience of the aviation industry: a literature review of crises and airline responses
    (Elsevier, 2023-12-28) Cook, Daniel; Mayer, Robert; Doy, Gary
    This paper aims to identify major crises that airlines have faced across multiple regions of the world simultaneously, and the responses to them. To comprehend the present status of the literature on this topic, relevant publications are reviewed. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the coverage of literature analysing airline responses to crises in academia has increased, with new literature emerging at a fast pace. To date, most of the literature that encompasses aviation has formed part of a wider study, usually on tourism, transportation, or hospitality. It normally analyses these fundamental issues generically from the perspectives of many organisations within these vast sectors, with little emphasis on airlines. However, there are only a few exceptions producing academic publications with airline crisis responses and resilience as their focus. This paper breaks down literature into different categories to appraise various types of crises, sourcing literature with a wide variety of methods, geographies, purposes and results. It finds little agreement in academia regarding the best way for an airline to respond to a crisis in a resilient manner. Nonetheless, the study finds that crises events act as a springboard for research into crisis response within the industry.
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    Development and validation of an airline-specific customer-based brand equity scale
    (Cranfield University, 2020-02) Sezgen, Eren; Mason, Keith; Mayer, Robert
    A brand is a feature that distinguishes one product or service from another. Having a strong brand can therefore provide competitive advantages to airlines which is key in today’s highly competitive environment to achieve sustainable growth and profit. One of the critical aspects of strategic brand management is the assessment of the health of the brand. Therefore, the brand equity concept introduced the 1980s that, in general represents added value derived from customer perceptions of the brand versus the product/service itself, enables researchers and marketers to evaluate and understand brand successes and failures. However, there is little agreement in the literature on the concept, its measurement or its key dimensions. Having reliable measures is one of the prerequisites in management since it is difficult to manage something without measuring it appropriately. Therefore, the aim of this study is to systematically develop a valid, reliable and parsimonious scale to measure customer-based brand equity of airlines. Following well-established scale development procedures, this study first adopts a range of qualitative studies to construct an airline-specific customer-based brand equity scale. The scale construction established through a review of literature, airline marketing expert interviews, and a data-mining study on passenger reviews. The construction is followed by stepwise passenger surveys to test, validate and to assess its reliability. The results support the validity, reliability and the scale’s predictive capability. Therefore, the result revealed six main dimensions of the ACBBE (Airline Customerbased Brand Equity) scale namely: awareness, service performance (functional and technical performance), credibility, differentiation, value and loyalty (brand intention and brand premium). This study provides a diagnostic tool for the airline marketing professionals to track, audit and assess the performance and health of their brands. The academic contribution of this research is twofold. It introduces a valid, reliable and psychometrically robust measurement tool by considering dynamics of the industry and, therefore, this study may lead as a point of departure to develop more sophisticated airline brand equity valuation methods.
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    Eco-positioning of airlines: perception versus actual performance
    (Elsevier, 2015-03-16) Mayer, Robert; Ryley, Tim; Gillingwater, David
    To date there has been little research in air transport into the eco-positioning of airlines, that is, their environmental image relative to other airlines and how actual environmental performance relates to this eco-positioning. This paper identifies the environmental perceptions that passengers hold of twelve airlines and relates these perceptions to airlines' actual environmental performance, using load factors, aircraft age and the atmosfair Airline index as proxies for environmental performance. Based on a survey of over 600 passengers at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, the research analyses air travellers' perception of airlines from an environmental perspective. The results show that while there are significant differences in people's environmental perception of airlines, the eco-positioning of the airlines is not correlated to their actual environmental performance. The results support previous research findings in other industries that in many cases actual performance is less important than communicating environmental messages to the public in creating a superior eco-positioning.
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    The role of Austrian Airlines within the Lufthansa Group
    (Elsevier, 2023-12-28) Mayer, Robert; Ellis, Darren; Rothe, Henrik; Tschannen, Tim
    Austrian Airlines is a relatively small but important part of the Lufthansa Group, and is to some extent overshadowed by its much larger German owner, together with its higher profile Swiss International Airlines compatriot and neighbour. Even so, Austrian is not as small as the group's other network carrier member Brussels Airlines. The group's low-cost point-to-point carrier Eurowings is not closely considered in this paper as the primary focus here is on a network carrier analysis, with Austrian positioned as the main case study subject. In this regard, Austrian delivers a hub-and-spoke network out of Vienna International Airport (VIE) which both compliments and strengthens the overall group's scale, scope and density. Austrian contributes a substantial boost to the Lufthansa Group in Central and Eastern Europe, though this has been reduced as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine, including Russian air space closure. Austrian's future prospects are closely aligned with events in Ukraine, with an end to the war likely to see the airline well positioned to resume services quite quickly to Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. The study here finds that Austrian Airlines clearly maintains a symbiotic relationship with its parent company, rather than a dependency on the wider group for its survival, though it would likely be a smaller airline if it was not part of the Lufthansa Group. They compliment each other.
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    The role of green marketing: insights from three airline case studies
    (Greenleaf, 2014-11-01) Mayer, Robert; Ryley, Tim; Gillingwater, David
    The purpose of this paper is to show how airlines incorporate green elements in their marketing mix and how these changes are communicated to the public. Based on an examination of airlines' websites and publications as well as a review of academic and industry literature, three airline case studies on Virgin Atlantic Airways, easyJet and Flybe are developed. A multiple case design is applied that provides an in-depth review of the airlines' environmental activities and enables differences between their green marketing activities to be identified. All three airlines have adapted their marketing mix to address the environmental impacts of air transport. While there are some commonalities between the airlines (e.g. market communications addressing green credentials), there are also some differences in how the airlines approach the issue. Services are often seen as low-impact industries when it comes to environmental impacts, yet there are certain service sectors that have recognisable environmental impacts. The airline sector has received considerable attention regarding their emissions and they have responded to negative coverage of their environmental impacts. The paper presents an original multiple case study of the green marketing of three airlines. It provides a comparison between three airlines and highlights commonalities as well as differences in green marketing of the three airlines.
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    Taught postgraduate air transport management degrees in the UK: A systematic review and analysis
    (Elsevier, 2024-08-01) Mayer, Robert; Budd, Lucy; Ison, Stephen
    This paper examines the provision, structure and curriculum content of taught postgraduate (Masters’ level) Air Transport Management degree programmes in the UK. In the academic year 2022–23, 14 UK Universities offered 19 different programmes. These programmes differed in terms of their duration, the fees that were charged, the delivery models, the content and the assessment regimes. In addition to examining the content and structure of the programmes, the paper conducts a SWOT analysis of the suite of degree programmes. While the inherent advantages of having a diversity of programmes for individuals, academic institutions and the air transport sector are recognised, it is suggested that prospective students and employers are cognisant of the differences between programmes to make informed decisions about their suitability and ability to meet personal career objectives and workplace planning requirements.
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    Voice of airline passenger: a text mining approach to understand customer satisfaction
    (Elsevier, 2019-04-13) Sezgen, Eren; Mason, Keith J.; Mayer, Robert
    This paper investigates the key drivers of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction towards both, full-service and low-cost carriers and also towards, economy and premium cabins. Latent Semantic Analysis - a text mining and categorisation technique ─ is applied to analyse online user-generated airline reviews. Over five thousand passenger reviews for fifty (50) airlines were collected from the online review site, TripAdvisor. Findings show that there are fundamental differences in the drivers of passenger satisfaction depending on the class of air travel purchased, and whether the airline is a low cost or a full service carrier. Friendliness and helpfulness of staff are the key factors for those travelling in Economy Class, product value is key for those in premium cabins, and a low price is the key satisfaction driver for those that choose to travel on a low cost airline. The research also shows that the service attributes seat comfort and legroom, luggage/flight disruptions and staff behaviours are the main reasons for passengers’ dissatisfaction among all groups. This study provides an alternative customer satisfaction analysis for managers to hear the voice of their customers by using a well-established text mining technique and by analysing the reviews of satisfied and dissatisfied customers.