Assessing the Determinants of Choice of Airline among Domestic Air Travelers in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The patronage or choice of an airline is determined by the airline’s ability to offer numerous service qualities to
her passengers’ satisfaction. Several studies have identified numerous factors determining passengers’ choice of
airlines. However, there is still a paucity of information on the degree of determinants of these determining
factors. This paper, therefore, examines the degree of influence these determinant factors have on domestic air
passengers’ choice of an airline in Lagos, Nigeria. Primary data were adopted using the structured questionnaire
that focused on the demographic profiles of domestic air passengers, ranking of airline service qualities and the
determinants of their choice of airline. The primary data were collected through 352 structured questionnaire
forms administered by systematic random sampling method to 400 domestic air passengers at both the departure
and arrival lounge of the domestic wing of Murtala Muhammed Terminal 2 (MM2) in Lagos. The results
revealed that Air Peace and Max Air ranked first and second respectively among the top ten operational airlines
in terms of service quality preference. Furthermore, the results of the hypothesis indicated that the passenger
airfare and route availability influence domestic passengers’ choice of airline. The stepwise multiple regression
results further indicated that passenger airfare exerted more influence at 89.2% (F=27889.785, p<0.05). The
study will help the airline’s marketing unit to identify the airline service quality they need to improve on, and it
will help policymakers not only in Nigeria but also all over the sub-continent to think about long-term strategies
towards the provision of sustainable airline services.