CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY       

The quality of services or products a company or manufacturer offers for sale is the core foundation of the company or manufacturer’s success, Parasuraman et al. (1985). Before a company or manufacturer can survive in a competitive market and achieve their aims and objectives, it must assess itself in terms of products or services offered in the market. The result of such assessment must be either positive or negative depending on the reaction of customer’s present and future buying behavior in the market.

Service quality is one of the major concerns of the service industries such as Airlines Industry because it is basically people oriented. In the service industry, the definition of service quality tends to focus in meeting customers’ needs and their expectations. In order to top deliver and maintain service quality, an organization must first identify what constitutes quality to those whom it serves, Groroos, (1988). Service quality is also referred to as a number of interrelated factors including the way in which individuals are treated by service providers. Thus, it is an outcome of a comparison between expectations of a service and what is perceived to be received, parasuraman et al. (1985).

Continued success therefore depends on passionate pursuit of customers’ satisfaction. It plays a dominant role in the growth and survival of business organizations, which the airline industry is not left out.