This thesis explores means of restoring profitability to the airline industry by cultivating intrinsically motivated brand loyalty between passengers and airlines in today’s fragile environment. The air transport industry is caught up in traditional transaction-based strategies. Airlines rely on archaic frequent flyer programs (FFPs) to maintain loyalty which deter customers from choosing alternative airlines by increasing the cost associated with switching. In contrast, other industries foster loyalty through relationship marketing to increase the customer’s value of the relationship. The objectives of this thesis are to 1) establish the link, if any, between passenger value, loyalty and increased airline profitability as well as 2) develop a competitive strategy for relationship marketing in the airline industry. The methodology comprises a ‘reverse value segmentation’ of passengers on value data collected in the New York – London market. The result is a model which segments customers into value profiles characterised by attitudes and behaviours towards loyalty. This dissertation extends the knowledge of passenger buying behaviour and choice as well as establishing passenger value as a foundation for strengthening industry structure. The results support a shift from the commoditized low-cost, no-frills model to a low-fare, ‘high-value’ model focusing on mass customization through CRM technologies.

This research introduces unionized expert labor to professional identity research with a focus on understanding the professional identity of commercial airline pilots in the United States. The research explores professional identity by directing its attention to two opposing views of identity literature. Whether professional identity is stable and enduring or whether it is socially constructed and malleable. This debate is explored through three lenses of investigation: how professional identity is experienced and defined for commercial airline pilots, how merger-acquisition (M/A) events have aided in understanding their professional identity, and how professionals negotiate their identity in a turbulent unionized context. The data makes a compelling case for professional identity as socially constructed in a dynamic and demanding 21st century world. The data was conjunctively collected and analyzed utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Over 210 hours of semi-structured, in-depth interviews and over 500 hours of participant observation periods constituted this conjunctive approach. The qualitative methodology and analytics of IPA proved to be effective in individual and professional sensemaking following significant organizational change, making a methodological contribution to organizational studies. Each of the participants to this research experienced significant organizational change, exemplified in airline merger-acquisition events, affecting their professional lives, professional status and sense of being following their M/A event. The findings of this research contribute new knowledge and expand the literature on professional identity and the understanding of professional identity as socially constructed, malleable and dynamic. The research also expands the understanding of psychological contracts. As a contribution to practice, the research suggests a federal legislative initiative to address the disparate and subordinating union practices currently in effect following an M/A event.

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The sustainability of the current economic system is coming under question, because of its continued reliance upon carbon fuels and their consequential impact upon the world’s climate, and because levels of consumption are growing. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the retail sector, and in particular for airport retailing. Airport retail represents a vital revenue stream for airport operators, yet faces the challenge of being part of an industry that is itself under increasing pressure due to its significant and growing energy use and CO2 emissions. This research considered sustainability challenges arising from current patterns of consumption. It investigated environmental threats posed to the sustainable development of the airport retail sector, and its ability to adapt to a low carbon economy, via case study analysis of the World Duty Free Group (WDFG). It also identified the incumbent business model of the organisation using the ‘Business Model Canvas1’. It quantified the carbon impact arising from airport retailing, finding that emissions arising from products sold being carried onto aircraft were greater than those arising from the outlets themselves. Finally, it assessed the suitability of emerging ‘sustainable business model archetypes’2 to meet the sustainability challenge faced by WDFG. The research found that airport retailers are constrained by the commercial, operational and regulatory aspects of the airport setting, which result in higher levels of energy use and emissions but also makes them more difficult to manage. It found that WDFG is a successful example of an airport retail concessionaire whose success results from the fact that it is highly specialised. This very specialisation makes it difficult for the organisation to implement emerging sustainable business models. However, proactively adopting some of these principles could differentiate WDFG from others in the sector thereby enhancing its longer-term growth.

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The airport terminal is becoming an increasingly ‘taken for granted’ part of many peoples’ lives. As air travel becomes less expensive, more and more individuals are choosing to travel for both business and pleasure, and the airport has become a site of increasing interest to scholars from a variety of academic disciplines. Sociologists, geographers and anthropologists have offered a range of perspectives on the spatial nature of the airport, ranging from the ‘transitional space’ described by Gottdiener (2001), to Auge’s (1995) ‘non-place’, free and empty of power and social relationships. The sociological foundation for this thesis however, stems from the work of Erving Goffman, and specifically his examination of the total institution. In an effort to capture the institutional nature of the airport terminal, the study used observation, semi-structured interviews and video and audio recordings during fieldwork at airport terminals across the globe. Specific conceptualisations of the airport as a city, shopping mall, theme park and non-place are explored through existing literature and empirical study, and are measured against the institutional backdrop of the practices and activities of the places themselves. The author concludes that airport terminal buildings are not the conceptualisations they are often cited as being. They are however sociologically significant spaces because of their design and use in the era of increased globalisation, security, control and uncertainty, where people management and control is seen as a vital function, and where the conversion of customers into compliant docile bodies is key to minimising risk and maximising profits.

The relationship between nonfinancial and financial performance measures has been extensively investigated (Banker and Mashruwala, 2007; Banker et al., 2000; Ittner and Larcker, 1998a; Sun and Kim, 2013). However, prior studies have tended to focus their investigation on the relationship between one nonfinancial measure in isolation with another financial measure (Bryant et al., 2004). While these studies provide valuable insights into the contemporaneous and temporal relationship between nonfinancial and financial performance, they are criticized for failing to capture the “trade-off” between various performance measures, which may in turn lead to unreasonable conclusions (Bryant et al., 2004; Ittner and Larcker, 2001). This research, therefore, attempts to address this limitation by conducting a simultaneous investigation of the links between productivity, service quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance in the US Airline industry. Drawing on the Resource Based View and Stakeholder Theory, an integrative framework is developed to investigate the linkages between airline productivity, service quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. This theoretical framework is tested using a longitudinal panel data set drawn from seven major US Airlines over 15 years (1995-2009). Using the partial least square approach to structural equation modelling, findings of this research suggest that improvements in airline productivity can lead to enhancement of service quality as reflected in reductions in flight delays, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. Airline productivity is also positively linked to current and future periods of financial performance. Further, the results uncovered in this research also suggest that service quality problems, such as flight delays and mishandled baggage, have strong negative effects on current and future customer satisfaction. The results also show that changes in service quality are not reflected concurrently in financial performance. Such changes in service quality are found to have significant impact on future financial performance. However, the link between customer satisfaction and current and future financial performance is not significant. This research contributes to literature by (1) developing an integrative framework drawing on the Resource Based View and The Stakeholder Theory, and (2) identifying the lag length required for the changes on exogenous variables to be reflected on the endogenous variables. Empirically, this research contributes by applying the PLS-SEM that enables simultaneous investigation of multiple variables. It also contributes to practice by providing useful insights for managers for strategy formulation and evaluation.

This thesis is about the experience of older people who travel through an airport. The research reported took place at the interface of population ageing, tourism travel and airport management. Although air transport is influenced by population ageing, older people’s experiences within this specific environment are largely untold. This is surprising, as flying is the preferred form of travel for much of international tourism and airports represent key infrastructure for the provision of dependable services. Thus, there are gaps in knowledge on older travellers at an airport and the airport’s role in this part of leisure travel. In particular, a holistic examination of older travellers’ experiences within the airport environment is missing. This research uses different approaches to the experience concept to explore the expectations, needs and demands of older travellers. It investigates the airport experience of older travellers, in light of the changing roles of airports in society. In the form of a qualitative single-case study, it examines the situation of the older leisure traveller at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Data was collected through 66 interviews with older leisure travellers, frontline employees and managers, complemented by 50 observations. This provides a comprehensive perspective of the older travellers’ airport experience and represents a novel approach. The thesis makes several contributions to experience, travel and tourism literature. On the demand side, the findings allow for a better understanding of the experience of the older passengers. The effect of ageing on an airport’s customer base is investigated. It is discussed whether this group needs special treatment within the regular passenger process. On the supply side, the emerging role of the airport as part of the overall holiday journey is explored. Furthermore, the findings show how airport management deals with this particular passenger group.