However, some service quality items occurred under different factors, which might be important. For example, while the “quality of food and beverages” item occurs under the “reliability” factor in Gilbert and Wong (2003), it appears under the “tangibles” factor in this study, which seems more appropriate. Another item is “performing services right at the first time”. While appearing under the “reliability” factor, it is extracted from the “availability” factor, which is a notable finding of the study. The next two differences involve the items of “behavior of employees gives confidence” and “employees have the knowledge to answer my questions”. This result is conspicuous, since two employee-related items took place under “employees” factor.
The “image” factor is another significant finding of this study. It was seen as a significant factor affecting customers’ expectations (Gronroos, 1984 and Gronroos, 1990) and particularly airline passengers’ perceptions (Park et al., 2004). Corporate image can be defined as the perceptions of an organization from the viewpoint of customers. Gronroos (1984) asserts that corporate image is of greatest importance to most service firms. Similarly, Park et al. (2004) claim that passengers’ repurchase and recommendation intentions are influenced by airline image. The results also point out the importance of “image” in the airline industry.