Abstract:
Despite the recent Asian economics crisis (1997-1998), air traffic volumes in Asia-
Pacific will continue to grow over the next decade. As the market is becoming more
and more attractive, the competition amongst the airlines operating in the region has
challenged the Southeast Asian carriers. The demanded quality of product/service by
the customer has become a crucial issue.
The ability to provide quality products and services is increasingly becoming a key
determinant of an airline's business success. The quality of any organisation's
products and services is determined by the core business or operational processes that
create them. If the chain of processes is made effective and efficient, then the
resulting products and services will also be effective and efficient.
Airline business activities consist of sales and marketing, engineering and
maintenance, flight operations, and ground services. For the purpose of this study the
operations function, which consists of aircraft maintenance, flight operations and
ground services, becomes a focus, as it is the core activity of operational processes
that causes the success or failure of delivering quality products and services to the
customer.
The study was aimed at developing a model of quality management practices for the
operations function of the `developing' airlines of Southeast Asia. It was conducted
through extensive literature and field studies, based on the quality management
practices of certain airlines in Southeast Asia and Western Europe.
The study found that there were twelve critical success factors of quality practices in
the operations function, which should be managed differently depending on the
airlines' organisational contexts, in order to keep their operational effectiveness and
efficiency at the required level. The findings configured a model that provides
airlines' executives or managers with guidelines, which they can consult in their
decision-making process when conducting quality improvement for their organisation.
They may well be used by other airlines as well. The findings from the study also contribute to the knowledge of process quality, and
the applicability of the quality concept developed in the social and business
disciplines of airlines' operational organisation.
