THE IMPACT OF USING NARROW-BODY AIRCRAFTS FOR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FROM THE AIRLINES IN THAILAND

Abstract

This research aims to study the impact of using narrow-body aircrafts for international flights from the airlines registered in Thailand, including the advantages, disadvantages, opinion and direct experience from the interviewees. The research team discussed, analyzed, and grouped the results in order to identify what are the passenger satisfactions. The reason we chose to focus on international flights because most domestic flights in Thailand is a short haul with approximately within 1.5 hours so it is believed not to be much affect the passenger’s satisfaction or decision in making an airline of choice. This is qualitative research which conduct the results by in-dept interviews from 30 people divided into two groups, passengers who are a frequent traveler for 20 people and airline staffs for 10 people so that we can get aspect from both sides, the service providers and receivers.

The results show that traveling by narrow-body aircraft still has an impact, especially, to passenger’s decision when buying a ticket and this affects their satisfactions with the following reasons 1) Discomfort 2) Limited In-Flight Storage 3) No Proper In-Flight Entertainment 4) No Power Plug Socket, and 5) Limited Common Space On-Board. These results came from the opinion of interviewees up to 80%.  However, another 20% of interviewees have a different opinion and seems to support the advantages of using narrow-body aircrafts with the following reasons. 1) Speedy Process 2) Lower Operating Cost for the airlines 3) More Environmentally Friendly. The recommendation of this research is, the airlines registered in Thailand should inform and build the awareness to the public regarding the advantages of using narrow-body aircrafts for international flights as well as the airlines can use the results of this research to improve and develop their products and services in order to create more passenger satisfactions.