The Passengers’ Confidence for Choosing Thai Budget Airlines

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to study the level of importance policies factor in management of budget airlines of passengers, 2) to study behavior of passengers in choosing Thai budget airlines 3) to study the level of confidence of passengers in choosing services provided by Thai budget airlines, and 4) to illustrate the best practices for Thai commercial airline business. The methodology of this research was mixed method including quantitative research and Qualitative research. In quantitative research part, the sample group selected through proportional stratified random sampling consisted of 400 passengers who used the Thai budget airlines services at Don Mueang International Airport.The questionnaire was the instrument for collecting data. The data was analyzed by computer programs. The statistics used in this study include frequency distribution, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and chi-square. In quanlitative research part, the sample group selected through purposive random sampling consisted of Thai Air Asia 3 workers, Nok Air 1 worker, and Thai Lion Air 1 worker, who held the position of manager or representative of airlines with work experiences over 3 years. The interview form was the instrument for collecting data. The result was interpreted by content analysis method. The findings were as follows 1) policies were the most influential factor in management of budget airlines 2) the majority of passengers used Thai Air Asia airlines services, the most reason was low price, and frequent of used airlines services were more than 4 times per year 3) the confidence of passengers in choosing budget airline services was at a high level and 4) in-depth interviews revealed that budget airlines should adjust their travel times to suit the needs of passengers, provide training for staffs, improve staffs to be more efficient, open new routes, increase frequencies on existing routes, offer quality services to all passengers equally, and ensure comfort and safety of all flights to convince passengers to initially choose services from budget airlines.