The Evaluation of Marketing Performance of Airline Companies with AHP and TOPSIS Methods

Marketing performance is a critical success factor in achieving sustainable profitability and competitive advantage for airline companies in the global competitive environment. Increasing competition in the sector and diversification of consumer expectations have made the effectiveness of marketing strategies dependent not only on traditional product/service, price, place and promotion elements but also on comprehensive criteria such as digital marketing, brand positioning, technology and innovation management and customer experience. In addition, the importance of digitalization and customer-oriented strategies in achieving competitive advantage is gradually increasing. In the literature, studies conducted using multi-criteria decision-making techniques in airline companies generally focus on basic performance indicators, financial and service quality. In this context, it is evaluated that the study will contribute to the literature and sector practitioners by evaluating the marketing performances of airline companies with multi-criteria decision-making techniques, AHP and TOPSIS. In this context, it has become mandatory for airline companies to evaluate their marketing strategies with multi-dimensional and analytical approaches for sustainable success. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prioritization of marketing strategies in the airline sector systematically and comprehensively with multi-criteria decision-making methods. In line with this purpose, considering the limitations in the literature, the weights and importance rankings of basic marketing criteria were determined with the AHP method; Then, the marketing performances of four airline companies operating in Türkiye were compared using the TOPSIS method. The analysis results revealed that pricing (0.232), product/service quality (0.206) and digital marketing (0.113) were the most critical criteria. Technology and innovation management (0.111) also has an important place in competitive strategies. In the TOPSIS analysis, Airline A showed the highest performance in the areas of product/service, place, promotion, digital marketing, brand positioning, customer experience and technology-innovation. Airline B ranked second, and Airlines C and D ranked third. These findings provide significant contributions to airline companies in making their marketing strategies more effective and efficient and thus achieving competitive advantage.