Airport service quality management practices at Antalya International Airport: insights from passenger feedback

Purpose The purpose of the study is to examine the airport service quality as a part of management practices at Antalya International Airport based on customer feedback from Skytrax. Design/methodology/approach By applying content analysis, the research identifies key themes and codes reflecting passenger experiences related to pricing, facilities, customer service, and organization. The analysis highlights critical areas where the airport’s management practices impact customer satisfaction. Findings The findings reveal prevalent issues such as overpriced services, poor customer service, and inadequate facilities, contributing to a negative passenger experience. Thanks to these findings, this study also contributed to form variables or attributes to assess airport service quality. Moreover, the study concludes with the possible root causes of the problems and recommendations to improve the airport’s management practices and passenger satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Because of the limited number of positive comments, this study focused exclusively on negative passenger comments to identify areas of dissatisfaction and potential service improvement. Originality/value The novelty of this work comes from its focus on service quality of Antalya International Airport. Serving millions of national and international travelers annually, this airport is vital to the region’s tourism industry and economic development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic post-pandemic, narrative-based airport service quality analysis of Antalya International Airport rarely examined in depth. Therefore, this study is significant to shed light upon the effectiveness of current practices and quality metrics.