CFS AVIATION INDUSTRY

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

- 2010
Executive Summary......................................................................2
Background..................................................................................3
Introduction4
Key Findings.................................................................................7

Conclusion..................................................................................17
2 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
TABLE OF CONTENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
I
n this report, we present our findings from a customer satisfaction survey of the Nigerian Aviation Industry in
2010. In carrying out the survey, we interviewed and analysed responses from about 3,000 Nigerian air
travellers across three of the busiest airports in Nigeria namely: the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,
Abuja; Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
The key objective of the survey was to provide industry players with unbiased insights to the demands,
expectations and perceptions of the Nigerian air travellers with a view to enabling airlines position to better
meet customers' needs.
The study revealed that apart from safety, customer service is the most important factor that determines the
choice of airlines for most Nigerian air travellers. The travellers also identified customer services related issues
such as rowdiness and poor queue management systems as some of the major challenges they encounter at the
airport.
Some of our findings include the following:
Airline travellers predominantly prefer to use travel agents in booking/making reservations for their
travels because of the perceived superior knowledge these agents possess about the available
options in the air travel market. A lot of them also buy their tickets over the counter at the airport
partly because they have to travel impromptu or have had a bad experience with travel agents and/or
internet bookings in the past.
Aero Contractors was adjudged the safest airline in Nigeria, followed closely by Air Nigeria and Arik
Air. The survey revealed that despite the poor level of technology/infrastructure at Nigerian airports
and previous plane crashes in the industry, there is still a certain level of confidence by airlines'
customers about safety and security.
Aero Contractors also stood out as the preferred airline in Nigeria; followed by Arik and Air Nigeria.
The survey revealed that these three airlines control about 70% market share of the aviation industry.
Some industry experts are of the opinion that economic and financial realities in the industry may lead
to consolidation leaving the industry with about 3-4 mega airlines in the near future.
?
?
?
J
ust like the aviation industries in most other economies of the world especially Europe and
America, the Nigerian aviation industry has been going through a tough phase. The current
banking reforms which has given rise to liquidity concerns for players in the industry coupled
with the rising cost of aviation fuel and other operating expenses is making most Nigerian airlines
rethink their strategies and battling for their very survival in the market.
Thankfully, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has just recently announced a bailout of about N200
billion for the sector. While the debate continues to rage as to how this bailout fund should be
appropriated, one issue which perhaps is not subject to debate is the need for airlines to continue to
offer services that meet/exceed passenger demands and expectations.
So while Nigerian airlines position to benefit from the bailout, it is also imperative that they keep a
listening ear and do not take their eyes off the singular most important person in their business i.e.
the customer. It is important that they listen to what the customer is saying and keep sight of the
factors that influence their flying decisions.
This report puts into perspective the above issues and also highlights the demands, expectations and
perceptions of Nigerian air passengers about Nigerian airlines and the aviation industry in general.

It is our hope that the report will serve as a medium for the voice of the Nigerian airline passenger to
be heard, a strategic and positioning tool for service excellence to Nigerian airliners and a source of
vital information for the general public.
3 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
BACKGROUND
1.1 STUDY OBJECTIVES
1.2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
1.2.1 Survey Approach
1.2.2 SAMPLE SIZE AND STRUCTURE
In line with our mission creating service champions, Customer Feedback Services (CFS) West Africa carried out
a customer satisfaction survey of the Nigerian aviation industry so as to give industry players unbiased insights
to the demands, expectations and perceptions of their customers (passengers) with a view to enabling the
airlines position to meet customers' needs and become true service champions.
In addition to the above, the specific objectives of the study include:
?To measure customer satisfaction in Nigerian Aviation Industry
?To identify and track customer satisfaction preferences against typical service standards
?To identify key drivers of loyalty
?To identify the current trends and forecast the future of the aviation industry
In order to achieve the above study objectives, our experienced field staff using the Simple Random Sampling
technique, randomly intercepted and administered fully structured questionnaires to target respondents at
three of the busiest airports in Nigeria, namely:
?Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos,
?Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja and
?Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
The respondents were screened to ensure that they were eligible to participate in the survey. All respondents
who participated did so based on:
?Their willingness to participate, respond to our questions and proffer their opinion in the
survey
?Their claim to use air as a means of transportation and
?A confirmation that they have travelled at least once in the last 6 months.
Our field staff administered a total of 3,000 questionnaires via face to face/personal interviews and we
successfully analysed 2,749 of those questionnaires. Using a +/-5% error margin, we targeted and achieved the
following sampling structure:
4 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
INTRODUCTION
2
n =(1-P)/[e/z+(1-P)/N]Where: Z=Confidence level, P =percentage probability of picking a choice,
expressed as decimal (0.5 used for the required sample size) e =Sampling error, N =Population size

Figure 2: Location Breakdown
Figure 1: Aviation Survey Sample Size Structure










1.3 SCOPE AND COVERAGE
The distribution of the respondents across these airports is as shown in the schematic below.
Location of Respondents
5| CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Respondents Target Sample
Size
Target Sample
% Split
Achieved Sample
Unit
AchievedSample
% Spilt
Age Range
<-25
26-40
41-55
55 >
3,000
600
1,200
900
300
100
20
40
30
10
2,749
493
1230
831
195
100
18
45
30
7
Sex
Female
Male
3,000
1,500
1,500
100
50
50
2,749
1232
1517
100
45
55
Marital Status
Married
Single
3,000
1,500
1,500
100
50
50
2,749
1729
1020
100
63
37
Occupation
Public Sector
Private Sector
Self Employed
Unemployed
Retired
3,000
600
900
900
300
300
100
20
30
30
10
10
2,749
470
1105
829
305
40
100
17
40
30
11
1
Location
Lagos
Port Harcourt
Abuja
3,000
1,200
900
900
100
40
30
30
2,749
1048
834
867
100
38
30
32
Total 3,000 100 2749 100

KEY FINDINGS
6 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Our key findings from the survey are presented under six (6) main headings namely:
?Analysis of Channels for Ticketing/Reservations
?Choice of Airline and the Factors that Influence that Choice
?Quality of In-flight Services
?Check-in and Arrival
?Safety and Security
?Flight Cancellations and Delays
In this area of assessment, we tried to get customer views on the following:
?Preferred Channel for Ticketing/Reservations
?Reliability of Service Channels
?Challenges with Preferred Channel
?Perceived Level of Service for Ticketing/Reservation
Details of our findings are given below.
Our analysis revealed that a majority of Nigerians prefer to make their bookings/reservations either through
travel agents (30%) or over the counter at the airport (29%). Another 21% asserted that they prefer to do this
online while 13% prefer the airlines' ticketing office. Only 3% claimed to prefer making reservations at the bank.
.
2.1 ANALYSIS OF CHANNELS FOR TICKETING/RESERVATIONS
2.1.1 PREFERRED CHANNEL FOR BOOKINGS/RESERVATIONS:
A summary of our finding in this area is presented in the chart below.

Figure 3: Preferred Channel for Ticketing/Reservation

3%
3%
13%
21%
29%
30%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Refused/No Response
Bank
Ticket Office
Internet/Online
Airport Counter
Travel Agent
Preferred Channels for Ticketing/Reservations
7 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
2.0 Key Findings

8 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
The preference for travel agents over other channels might not be unconnected with the belief that travel agents
have more knowledge about the various travel options and what is available out there for the traveller. Most of our
respondents seem to be saying I don't know or understand my options whenever I want to travel and I would rather
talk to someone who can do all the searching for me and tell me what is available
The 29% who buy their tickets over the counter mainly do so at the time/day of travel. These are usually travellers
who have to fly impromptu and as such make a quick dash to the airport hoping to catch any available flight to their
destination. For some others in this category, mistrust or a previous bad experience with travel agents and
difficulties in accessing the internet are typical reasons why they mainly prefer to do their ticketing over the
counter.
Interestingly, 21% of Nigerian travellers interviewed prefer and use the internet to make their reservations (i.e.
online bookings). Given that internet penetration in Nigeria as at December 2009 stood at about 16.1%,we can
reasonably conclude that 21% for online bookings is quite encouraging.
Furthermore, when compared with America which has an estimated 77% internet penetration but only about 46%
of air travellers made their bookings online in 2009 ( Forrester Research), then we could infer that the Nigerian air
traveller seem to be embracing online technology fairly rapidly.
However, most online users seem to use this channel so as to benefit from the (generous) discounts some Nigerian
airlines now offer flyers for booking in advance online. At a time, from an airline like Aero Contractors, travellers
could enjoy more than 50% discount if they book well ahead of time online.
When respondents were asked which channel for making booking and reservation they find most reliable, the
following results emerged: airport counters (33%), travel agents (27%), internet/online (17%), ticket office (13%)
and banks (10%).
The above result seems logical given that face-to-face transactions are generally more reliable than other modes of
transactions. For instance, the authenticity of a ticket or the certainty that a particular trip would be made when a
ticket is purchased from an airline's counter at the airport, would be quite higher than when such a ticket is booked
online or issued by an agent.
2.1.2 RELIABILITY OF SERVICE CHANNELS
10%
13%
17%
27%
33%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Bank
Ticket Office
Internet/Online
Travel Agent
Airport Counter
Most Reliable Service Channels
Figure 4: Reliable Service Delivery Channel
2.1.3 CHALLENGES WITH PREFERRED SERVICE CHANNEL
The challenges most customers claim to encounter with their preferred ticketing channel ranged from poor queue
management systems to technological issues such as unstable internet connections and inability to make card
payments to tout activities at the airport.
Details of this result are presented in the chart below.

4%
4%
10%
11%
12%
19%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Touts
Incomplete Online
Rowdiness
Inability to Pay with
Slow Connection
Long Queues
Challenges of Service Channels
2.1.4 LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR TICKETING
In terms of the level of customer service for ticketing, 16% of the respondents rated the level of service as very
good, 47% rated it as good, 33% scored it fair while 4% rated overall customer service for ticketing poor. This result
is further presented in the chart below.

9 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 6: Service Rating
Figure 5: Service Channels Challenges
2.2 CHOICE OF AIRLINE AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THAT CHOICE
2.2.1 PREFERRED AIRLINE
In this area, respondents were asked to identify their most preferred airline and provide reasons for their choices.
Our findings are shown below:
Aero Contractors, Arik and Air Nigeria emerged as the three most preferred airlines in the industry with our
th th
respondents scoring them 29%, 25% and 16% respectively. Dana Air (9%) and Chachangi (5%) emerged 4 and 5
respectively.
2.2.2 REASONS FOR PREFERENCE
When asked to mention the factors that influence their choice of which airline to fly with, 37% of the respondents
stated that safety was the most important factor that influences their decision while 29% highlighted service
quality. Price and timeliness recorded 19% and 8% respectively.
10| CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010

16%
5%
9%
16%
25%
29%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Others
Chachangi
Dana Air
Air Nigeria
Arik
Aero
Preferred Airlines




8%
8%
18%
29%
37%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
No Response
Timelines
Pricing
Service Quality
Safety
Factors that Influence the Choice of Airlines
Figure 7: Preferred Airlines
Figure 8:Reasons for Preferred Airlines
2.2.3 LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY OF AIRLINE STAFF
In terms of the level of efficiency of airline staff, 15% of respondents rated their preferred airline very good, 60%
rated them good, 22% rated them fair while 3% rated them poor. This result is depicted in the chart below.
2.3 QUALITY OF IN-FLIGHT SERVICES
In-flight service is an important aspect of airline operations and constitutes a potent strategy for retaining
customers and attracting new ones. In-flight service is not simply an intangible product offering but a vital part of
airline operations especially in the context of competition. Our assessment of in-flight services involved five main
areas namely:
?Seat comfort
?Cabin cleanliness
?Rest room
?Cabin temperature and
?Meals/drinks
Amongst the five assessment areas above, customers seemed to be most satisfied with seat comfort as 60% scored
it very good. In terms of cabin cleanliness, only 48% felt that existing standards are very good. 43% also felt cabin
temperature in most aircrafts is very good and 40% felt the same for the rest rooms on board. Meals/drinks however
got the poorest rating with only 35% scoring it very good with another 31% rating it as fair and 6% indicating that it is
poor.

3%
22%
60%
15%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Poor
Fair
Good
Very Good
The Level of Efficiency of the Staff of Preferred
Airlines
11 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 9: Customer Service Staff Rating
2.4 CHECK-IN AND ARRIVAL
Under check-in and arrival, the survey evaluated:
?The willingness and friendliness of airline staff to assist passengers at the
check-in and arrival terminals
?Ability to keep to time
Our findings revealed that 80% of customers rated airlines as good or very good in
terms of the willingness of their staff to provide assistance during check-in or on
arrival. 19% scored them fair with 1% believing they perform poorly in this service
area.
In terms of their ability to keep to departure/arrival time, 16% seemed to be very
satisfied with the airlines as they scored them very good in this area. 40% scored
them good, 39% scored them fair while 5% scored them poor.
A summary is provided in the charts below.
The charts below provide the detailed scores for each assessment area under in-flight services.
60%
48%
40%
43%
35%
34%
38%
32%
38%
27%
6%
14%
27%
18%
31%
1%
1%
1%
6%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%
Seat Comfort
Cabin cleanliness
Rest room
Cabin temperature
Meals / Drinks
Kindly tick your rating of the following in the airline you frequently fly?

12 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 10: Rate of In-Flight Services
Figure 11: Rate of Staff Friendliness/Willingness Figure 12: Rate of Airlines Ability To Keep To Time
2.5 CANCELLATIONS/DELAY
When customers were asked how often they experience flight delays, 54% claimed that sometimes
airlines do not meet up with scheduled timelines while 22% of respondents claimed to have never
experienced flight delays. An insignificant number of 3% of the respondents said that flight delay was
a common experience.
In an attempt to validate the above responses, we further asked the respondents to assess the ability
of airlines to generally keep to time of departure and arrival, and about 52% claimed to be satisfied.
These results are further illustrated in the charts below
In terms of flight cancellations, 38% of the respondents claimed to have never experienced flight
cancellations while 42% claimed that it happens sometimes. When respondents were further asked if
they have ever received compensation for flight cancellations, 51% said Never.
The charts below throw more light on customers' responses/opinions on flight cancellations and
delays.
13 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 15: Customer Cancellation Experience
Figure 13: Customers Experience Of Flight Delays
Figure 16: Frequency Of Compensation
Figure 14: Airlines Ability To Keep To Time
Those who claimed to have gotten compensation for cancellations where further asked to mention how the
airlines compensated them. 39% stated that they got outright refund, 25% had their flights rebooked by the
airlines, 11% got apologies, 10% got various forms of bonuses, and another 10% got discounts while alternative
arrangements were made for the final 6%.
When asked if they were satisfied with the compensation they received, 71% said yes while 29% said No as
shown in the chart below
The 29% that were not satisfied with the sort of compensation they got, were further asked to state how they
would have preferred to be compensated and the results in the chart below emerged.

14 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 17:Compensation For Flight Cancellation
Figure 18: Rate of Satisfaction
2.6 SAFETY AND SECURITY
The various plane crash incidents and bomb threats around the world in recent times have ensured that
issues of safety and security aboard aircraft remain a concern for many.
When respondents were asked to identify the safest airline in Nigeria, the following results emerged. 24%
of air travellers believe that Aero Contractors is the safest airline in Nigeria. Aero was closely followed by
Air Nigeria (20%) and Arik (15%), Chachangi (13%) and Dana (7%).
The above result is further illustrated in the chart below.

15 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
Figure 19: Rate Of Compensation Preference
Figure 20: Rate Of Safest Airline
The result is presented in the chart below

16 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
When respondents were further asked to assess the overall level of safety/security in the Nigerian aviation
industry, 34% and 10% rated the industry good and very good respectively in this area. 36% however said it was
fair while 11% rated it as poor.
Figure 20: Overall Perception of Airline Safety and Security
Conclusion
I
n spite of the current difficulties plaguing
the aviation industry, the customer still
remains King. Several studies have shown
a correlation between high customer satisfaction and business success in a recession. It is unlikely
that this trend will be any different for the Nigerian aviation sector.
Our opinion is that only airlines that discern the needs of the customer and continuously adopt
creative strategies and business models that can meet those needs will survive the market in this
trying time.

As this study has shown, apart from safety, air travellers identified customer service as the next
most important factor that determines which airline they fly. Also, customer service issues such
as poor queue management systems resulting in long queues and rowdiness at the airport are
some of the challenges most customers say they face when booking tickets at the airport.
The survey also showed that while face to face transactions are still important, customers are also
embracing online booking/transactions. We expect that forward looking airlines would pay
attention to these issues.

17 | CFS Aviation Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey-2010
33A Bishop Aboyade Cole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
www.cfs-westafrica.com
+234 14627754