Check-in Services and Passengers’ Impression of Airports in South-south Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

The study examined check-in service quality attributes and passengers' impression of airports in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The research was motivated by the desire to know how well passengers' impression of Nigerian airport service quality have been shaped by four check-in service attributes (competence of staff, politeness of staff, waiting time at check-in counters and interactions with passengers). The study used stratified random sampling to survey four hundred passengers at Port Harcourt International Airport and Margaret Ekpo International Airport. Data were collected using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The instrument was content-validated, while the Cronbach Alpha coefficient for the constructs gave reliability of 96.9 per cent. The data generated were analysed using mean rating and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings revealed that politeness of staff, waiting time at check-in counters and interactions with passengers significantly influenced passengers' impression of airports in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study recommended that Airport management should regularly train frontline staff on customer service communication skills; provide feedback mechanisms such as voice recorders and CCTV cameras to check front-line interactions with passengers, and automate the check-in process as is obtainable in developed countries to reduce the waiting time at check-in counters. These will ensure and improve passengers’ perception and patronage of aviation services in the zone, locally and internationally.