When it comes to customer satisfaction, airlines rank at the bottom of the list.
South African consumers rated the airline industry as one that provides poor value, according to the recently released South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi).
The industry, rated one of the worst in terms of customer satisfaction, was grouped together with other poor value industries such as petrol stations, banking, medical aids, beverages-beer, cellular service providers and short term insurance. Kulula and Mango scored 5,7% and 5,1% above the industry average while SAA scored 6,6% below industry average.
“The past decade has been a turbulent one for the local commercial airlines industry, characterised by SAA’s government bailout and plans for further improvement, as well as the bankruptcy of four low-cost carriers,” says professor Adré Schreuder, founder and chair of SAcsi.
The customer satisfaction score is influenced strongly by the perception of receiving a low value given the price paid.
The rapid escalation of the fuel price and the depreciation of the rand are some factors that may have tarnished the value proposition of airlines, says Comair ceo, Erik Venter.
“Take into consideration that on average Comair makes just R45 profit in flying a customer – the same you would pay just to deposit the same cash as an airline ticket at your bank or to buy a take-away burger. However, for its R45 per customer, an airline has to invest in aircraft costing around US $40 million each and in operating costs of around R120 000 per flight,” he adds.
On top of this, airlines need to upgrade fleets, improve on-board catering and spend time and money on service skills training, Erik told eTNW.
