The comparison of the expected and perceived quality level of the cabin services initial training given in airline companies: An example of Turkey

Air transportation, which is among the transportation types, develops everyday with the technology and increases the flight network. Air transport, which saves people time, makes a positive contribution to the individuals who compete with the globalized world. The importance of employees in airtransportation is increasing day by day. Qualified staff is of great importance for airlines. Individuals who want to be a cabin officer have to have many features (smile, cleanliness, humanity, giving importance to the appearance of the outside etc.) and they have to receive training in order to gain experience in accordance with these features. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation has taken into account the needs of certified cabin officers who have completed the training of airline companies in accordance with international standards. In addition to the airline operations, it was decided to train cabin attendants in vocational high schools. In this study, the expected and perceived quality level of the training received by the cabin services employees, which constitute the important service process of airline passenger transportation, has been tried to be compared. A questionnaire was applied to the trainees studying in 2018-2019 with the qualitative research approach. The research was conducted on 404 people with face-to-face questionnaire application and the data were subjected to factor analysis in SPPS 17 program. In the study, 17 questionnaires were excluded due to missing data. As a result of the study, it was determined that the demographic characteristics of the trainees and the expected and perceived service quality did not differ significantly.