STRATEGIES FOR AIRLINE COMPETITIVENESS: ANALYZING KEY PRODUCT FEATURES AND DECISION-MAKER PRIORITIES USING SPHERICAL FUZZY AHP

Abstract

The airline transportation industry is one of the most fiercely competitive sectors. To survive and gain competitive advantage, airlines may need to not only design new products but also redesign existing products to meet passengers' wants, desires and expectations. Therefore, in this study, we focus on airlines' key product futures. The aim of this study is to reveal the airline key product features that are important to the decision makers in airlines. In the study, we created a key product features pool, which is critical for airlines, through studies in the literature. We reached out to airline managers to reveal the importance of airline key product features, which consist of 6 main criteria and 30 sub-criteria. We used the Spherical Fuzzy (SF) Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as the method in the study. The findings of the study show that some product components are more critical than others in the airline transportation industry. In addition, the results of the study demonstrate that the main price-related dimensions are critical for airline decision makers. In the subdimensions, airline ticket price, reputation of safety, ticket flexibility and seat cost for previous flight are the sub-criteria that airline managers focus on.