Understanding Airline Passengers during Covid-19 Outbreak to Improve Service Quality: Topic Modeling Approach to Complaints with Latent Dirichlet Allocation Algorithm.

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the airline industry, as it has many sectors, and has created tremendous financial pressure on companies. Flight bans, new regulations, and restrictions increase consumer complaints and are emerging as a big problem for airline companies. Understanding the main reasons triggering complaints and eliminating service failures in the airline industry will be a vital strategic priority for businesses, while reviewing the dimensions of service quality during the COVID-19 pandemic provides an excellent opportunity for academic literature. In this study, 10,594 complaints against two major airlines that offer full-service and low-cost options were analyzed with the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm to categorize them by essential topics. Results provide valuable information for both. Furthermore, this study fills the gap in the existing literature by proposing a decision support system to identify significant service failures through passenger complaints in the airline industry utilizing e-complaints during an unusual situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Marketing Mix and Economics of Airlines

The main goal of this paper is to assess the impact of covid-19 on marketing practices and airlines' adaptation to the new business and economic environment. In the first part, we introduce a marketing mix framework and look at the impact of covid-19 on seat capacity and airline operating revenues. In the second part, we determine current marketing strategies using the marketing framework of the 4Ps and its impact on operational changes among full-service network carriers and low-cost carriers. The central theme in advertising and campaigns for full-service network carriers is high hygiene standards and cleanliness of flights, as passengers are concerned with not contracting covid-19 or other viruses during the longer flight routes. Low-cost carriers still focus primarily on the price and convenience to potential customers. Both types of carriers do improve and push out technology changes in terms of mobile apps, improved online check-ins and contactless, touchless kiosks used for airport check-ins. These slight changes increase passengers' comfort, speed up the check-in process and minimize the spread of any viruses. © 2022 IEEE.

Memorable dining experiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effects of memorable dining experiences (MDEs) in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA total of 530 valid survey responses were collected in the USA. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) was used to estimate inner and outer models. A two-stage approach was applied to test the moderating effects of restaurant safety measures. Additional analyses were conducted to compare electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention and actual eWOM behavior.FindingsAll five dimensions contributed to the overall memorability of a dining experience, with affect being the primary factor. Overall memorability was positively related to subjective well-being and actual eWOM behavior. Restaurant safety measures were positively related to the overall experience but did not moderate the relationship between any dimension and overall memorability.Research limitations/implicationsFindings provide empirical support for the conceptualization of MDEs during a pandemic and underscore the importance of actual eWOM behavior in restaurant research.Practical implicationsResults offer guidance for restaurant managers in designing MDEs.Originality/valueThe restaurant industry is evolving from simply providing products and services to creating experiences. Yet the impacts of crafting MDEs are not well understood, especially during a pandemic. This study filled this gap by investigating MDEs and their effects on subjective well-being and eWOM behavior.

Airline brand image, passenger perceived value and loyalty towards full-service and low-cost carriers

Purpose: This study aims to examine the mediating and moderating processes that link airline brand image to passenger loyalty through perceived value. Design/methodology/approach: The research participants were Taiwanese passengers with experience travelling abroad by air. Structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis were used to investigate the effect of airline brand image and perceived value on the loyalty of passengers using full-service and low-cost carriers. Findings: For both airline types, airline brand image had a significant and positive effect on passenger perceived value. Perceived value had a significant and positive effect on passenger loyalty, perceived value was a crucial mediator and airline type was not a key moderator in the model. Originality/value: In this study, focusing on the perspective of Taiwanese passengers, a conceptual model of the factors that lead to passenger loyalty, with a focus on brand image, was developed. This paper contributes to the literature and application field by examining the mediating effect of perceived value and the moderating role of airline type in the aviation industry;on the basis of the results, potential recovery strategies for airlines in the post-COVID-19 era are provided. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Memorable dining experiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effects of memorable dining experiences (MDEs) in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 530 valid survey responses were collected in the USA. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) was used to estimate inner and outer models. A two-stage approach was applied to test the moderating effects of restaurant safety measures. Additional analyses were conducted to compare electronic word of mouth (eWOM) intention and actual eWOM behavior. Findings: All five dimensions contributed to the overall memorability of a dining experience, with affect being the primary factor. Overall memorability was positively related to subjective well-being and actual eWOM behavior. Restaurant safety measures were positively related to the overall experience but did not moderate the relationship between any dimension and overall memorability. Research limitations/implications: Findings provide empirical support for the conceptualization of MDEs during a pandemic and underscore the importance of actual eWOM behavior in restaurant research. Practical implications: Results offer guidance for restaurant managers in designing MDEs. Originality/value: The restaurant industry is evolving from simply providing products and services to creating experiences. Yet the impacts of crafting MDEs are not well understood, especially during a pandemic. This study filled this gap by investigating MDEs and their effects on subjective well-being and eWOM behavior. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China's Airline Industry.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a great challenge to the development of China's airline industry. Although the existing literature has analyzed the economic impact of the pandemic on the airline industry from different perspectives, it remains to be further studied given the operating characteristics of different types of airlines in China. Methods: Using a new perspective of heterogeneous airline service models, this study collects high-frequency data on stock prices on six sample airline companies (including both full-service airlines and low-cost airlines) in China over 519 trading days, from August 1, 2019 to September 15, 2021, and identifies structural change points for each company's stock price using the Quandt-Andrews test. The outcome is used to construct an econometric model to quantify the economic impact of the pandemic on different airlines' stock prices under different structural changes. Results: All results have passed the Quandt-Andrews test. The impact coefficient of full-service airlines is negative, while that of low-cost airlines is positive. Most of them have passed the test at the significance level of 10%. Conclusions: All Chinese airlines experienced significant sudden changes in stock prices due to the pandemic, but there are sectoral differences in the order of the sudden changes, with full-service airlines experiencing structural changes much earlier than low-cost airlines. In addition, the impact of the pandemic on stock prices varies across airline types, with a negative impact on full-service airlines and a significant positive effect on most low-cost airlines.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt on Waste Management and Disposal from Mauritania Deepwater Abandonment and Decommissioning Campaign

Abandonment and decommissioning activities of oil and gas assets had been on the increasing trend. As an activity of minimal to no economic value return, the investment into Abandonment and Decommissioning (A&D) should be properly strategized to ensure all objectives are met safely within available time and resources. This paper will discuss Operator's strategy in planning and handling waste from A&D activities of fifteen (15) deepwater subsea wells in Mauritania, West Africa. The approach of this A&D project at a remote location was done in two separate campaign instead of a single campaign based on technical and commercial evaluations performed by Operator. Subsea structures, Christmas trees, tubulars and others are expected to be retrieved and disposed according to local and international standard. In general, Operator are expecting two (2) type of waste which are nonhazardous waste and hazardous waste due to hydrocarbon or naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) contamination. Due to the limitation of capable hazardous waste handling and disposal in country, Operator decided to export waste to identified facilities outside of country at the end of the project via sea-freight. Operator appointed one contractor to provide a full-service related to the waste management and disposal that covers field services and onshore services that includes radiological monitoring to identify NORM waste, labelling, packaging at offshore, onshore storage, transportation and logistics that include Trans-Frontier Shipment (TFS). The strategy of appointing one contractor for full service of waste management and disposal has promoted a single - point accountability to the contractor and this has enabled the objective been delivered effectively. COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge on cross-border logistic planning due to additional measure been imposed by receiving country. Furthermore, the new development of United Kingdom exiting European Union (BREXIT) also posed some level of uncertainty to the contractor to obtain relevant approvals for waste export. To reduce the amount of waste to be export, Operator continuously looking for and successfully found a local recycling facility that able to handle the non-hazardous waste while meeting local regulation, Operator's and industrial standard. All outlined strategy was proven to be effective for waste management in remote location, uncertainty on cross-border waste export challenge, as well as capitalizing on the limited local resources available. Copyright © 2021, Society of Petroleum Engineers