Effects of switching costs on customer attitude loyalty to an airport in a multi-airport region: Fid-Bau Portal

Effects of switching costs on customer attitude loyalty to an airport in a multi-airport region

Nesset, Erik / Helgesen, Øyvind

Highlights • The influence of switching costs on airport loyalty is estimated by a SEM approach. • Flight offers are significantly linked to image building of an airport. • High switching costs make service quality and facilities more important for loyalty. • Low switching costs make flight offers more important for loyalty.

Abstract The purpose is to analyze impacts of switching costs on customer attitude loyalty to an airport operator in a Norwegian multi-airport region. A sample of 167 respondents is analyzed by a structural equations modelling approach. Irrespective of customers’ perceptions of switching costs, service quality seems to be the most important customer loyalty driver. For low switching costs customers flight offers are also an important loyalty driver. For high switching costs customers facilities are important. An anticipated reduction in switching costs due to improvements in the regions’ infrastructure thus implies that more attention should be paid to an upgrading of the flight offers in order to create more airport loyalty in future. This may also have some interesting policy implications, which is briefly discussed in the paper.