baggage

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Abstract

Hong Kong International Airport is one of the world’s busiest airports in the world. Corresponding to the busy traffic flow, there are over ten thousand pieces of checked baggage with an average of 20kg each to handle per day. (Ir Alex Kwan, HKIA 2017) From check-in to departure, arrival and claims, baggage handling is an essential part of entire airport operation as it enables ground support teams to do their work quickly, safely and efficiently. Unfortunately, Hong Kong International Airport, as a world-class airport, has been notorious in disappointing its visitors with low efficiency in baggage access. (Danny Lee, SCMP, 18 Nov 2017).

To review the quality of service provided by the Hong International Airport, this research aimed to evaluate the performance of baggage management system through qualitative method by interviewing key players in baggage handling mechanism and air travellers who have used this service. Generally, the overall satisfaction of the baggage handling system is low. Though passengers find the baggage waiting facilities up to expectation, the baggage access time to far beyond satisfaction. Analyzing from the data collected from interviews, the delay of baggage delivery is caused by three major factors which are 1) environment factors which include road traffic, facilities, baggage carts, conveyors etc; 2) human factors which include number of staff, professionalism of staff and work attitude; 3) Operation factors which include security check, narcotic search and baggage check-in procedures.

For improvement of the above root problems, there are three recommendations. First, the extension of underground baggage pathway may release the stress on road which is a major cause of baggage delay. Next, the automatic baggage system will be able to address all the three factors which cause long access time of baggage as it would tremendously reduce the number of manpower needed as well as reduce the time needed for security control. Last, the setting up of redundancy system helps to avoid potential problem arise from failure of baggage handling system.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

The passengers are considered the most important stakeholders in any organization. As such, fulfilling the needs of the passenger is important to achieve a competitive edge. Proficient and effective handling of customer complaints could result into reward of customer loyalty. According to Yen et al, (2001), happy passengers are capable of providing repeat business. Customer value is considered the most vital aspect for business success in today’s highly competitive environment. Thus, consumer value has been positioned at the center of organizational strategy. Prioritization of the consumer value is therefore imperative for achieving outstanding performance in the airline industry. Popovic et al, (2010) posit that passenger retention and loyalty management are often stressed since it is cheaper to retain loyal clients than acquiring a new one. As a result of the increased demand for air transportation recently and airport operation diffecomplexity, it no longer an easy task to ensure that the airport remains efficient and reliable. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) present a key set of critical measures that focuses on elements of organizational performance considered important for both the present and future success of the organization. Airline passengers are thus considered the key stakeholders that impact the profitability of an airport (Gupta and Venkaiah, 2015).

The major service providers within the airport management are the air operators, staff, ground handling firms, and even air companies. They all strive to achieve passenger satisfaction. While at the airport, passengers are mostly served by a number of groups including passport control, security control, and check-in counters. Arguably, passenger satisfaction is mostly affected by different service degree across these phases. Oflac and Yumuryaci, (2014) established that the baggage access time is a critical sign of satisfaction. In most cases, longer waiting causes dissatisfaction and further impact the perceived quality of service (Fodness and Murray, 2007). Some of the commonly mentioned factors that result in delayed baggage are tagging errors, restrictions, bag switch and errors in ticketing in addition to security errors. The paper seeks to analyze antecedents of baggage access time and offer informed recommendation to lower the baggage access time to achieve improved passenger satisfaction at the Hong Kong international airport.

1.2 Significance of the Study

Passenger satisfaction is generally the most important factor in air travel since it might build or break the reputation and the airline’s long-term profits (Popovic et al, 2010). Airline management should be able to quickly respond to the changes that occur in the air travel industry to meet their growing and changing demands. The findings of this paper will help the Hong Kong international airport to understand the antecedents of baggage access time and ways to lower the access times to achieve improved passenger satisfaction.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

The aim of the paper is to analyze the antecedents of baggage access time and recommend measures to lower the access time to achieve improved passenger satisfaction at an international airport in Hong Kong. The following are the major objectives that will guide this study: