One of the most important issues in the airline business is the services provided by the airlines. Determining the needs of targeted consumers, airline companies
should focus on before-, during-, and after-fl ight services. Services in airlines, cabin layout, the fl ight network, aircraft types and frequency of fl ights, ticket sales points,
reservations, terminal services, punctuality, and fl ight are all classifi ed as the ser- vices offered by airlines Alkoç
2004 .
5.2.1 Brand and Airline Industry
Both consumers and companies fi nd brand and branding more important today. Perceived as identities by consumers, brands alert their senses as well as enrich their
life experiences. People have a need to affi liate and surround themselves with things they know well, trust, and aspire to be. From the point of consumers, brand is a
quality sign providing reliability between companies and consumers.
Etymologically, the Italian word “marca” consists of both signing and signaliz- ing meanings. The symbols formed by fi gures and letters and metals used for tickets
or coins are all named as brands. On the other hand, the word “branding” etymo- logically comes from the British peasants’ purpose for separating cattle. Accordingly,
the word branding means signing the items both for signalizing and distinguishing.
Brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifi es one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers according to the
American Marketing Association AMA www marketingpower com 2999
. Kotler 2001
defi nes brand as a seller’s promise to deliver a specifi c set of features, benefi ts, and services consistent to the buyers Kotler
2001 . Aekar, another brand-
ing expert, fi nally describes it as the following: “brand is a defi ning and distinguish- ing name or symbol of seller’s or group of seller’s products and services from the
competitors.” Accordingly, the brand signalizing the source of product protects both consumers and producers from the potential competitors Elitok
2003 .
Companies in today’s fi erce competitive world are trying hard to brand their prod- ucts. If recognition leads to increased sales of productsservices, “brand recognition”
is the most effective way for it. Brand is a promise of producers to consumers Onan 2006
. Brand provides a seller’s or producer’s service, characteristic, or advantage with permanent quality warranty, and this is not necessarily perceived the same by all
consumers Cop and Bekmezci 2005
. The brand encourages pleased consumers to prefer the same product and to be “repeat buyers.” Brand is a bridge between sellers
and consumers; thus, consumers buy productsservices from sellers through brand reliability. On the other hand, selling product is not the end of the process. After-
sales services play an important role on brand image and brand loyalty. Consumers do not want to buy a no-name product which could be ruined easily after sale.
Brand is not only a registration certifi cate distinguishing products from the oth- ers but also a promise to consumers for permanent quality and performance.
Symbolizing the advantages and quality of productsservices, brand also contributes for “brand recall.”
balitrulyyahoo.com
The branding attempts of airline companies have to be in collaboration with the strategies such as networking, job training, and fl eet policy. The other two important
strategies – the “on-time performance” and “value for money” – also have to be cohesive with branding Taneja
2014 . Branding is an important marketing instru-
ment and it is more important to airline business compared to other businesses. It is impossible to see any single passenger airline in “the top 100 Global Brands.”
Relatively well-known airlines could argue with such lists and point out that such rankings have been based on brand equity and the market capitalizations of the
global airlines tend to be relatively small. Other arguments include factors that although they are global in operations, airlines are not considered global business
due to the existence of bilateral and multilateral agreements. These are valid expla- nations
Taneja . One of the basic conditions of sustainable competitive advantage
is branding for the industries, and the airline industry is not an exception. Although it may vary through industries, brand loyalty of consumers is affected by several
factors. Service quality is one of the most important factors in service industries Zeithaml et al.
1996 . Moreover, the service quality is a predecessor for brand loy-
alty, brand recognition, and brand satisfaction. Consequently, the marketing profes- sionals try to identify “perceived quality” while defi ning the term brand. Professionals
believe that consumers fi nd high-quality products more successful when all other variables are considered as equals. Relatively, the brand quality defi nitions will
strongly affect brand preferences Morton
1994 . Consequently, the marketing pro-
fessionals claim that the service quality is a strong founder of the brand loyalty Gremler et al.
1996 . Tam 2000 and Chinomona et al.
2003 also support that
service quality affects brand satisfaction directly.
5.2.2 Service Quality
