1.1 Introduction
Aviation security refers to the prevention of acts of unlawful interference against civil aviation, such as seizure of an aircraft or placing a hazardous device on-board an aircraft (European Commission, 2017). Aviation security is costly and controversial; No other security measures directly affect such a large portion of the country's population (Jenkins, 2012). Due to the increasing demand for air transport, passengers will be directly and significantly affected by security services. The strategy document consists of three primary categories of threats against the aviation domain based on the target of the threat. These include threats involving aircraft, threats to aviation infrastructure and threats involving hostile exploitation of air cargo.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Airports face several challenges when serving passengers, for instance, as a result of terminal congestion, uneven demand, exposure to local disruptions and external events, the involvement of multiple staff and service providers, and fragmented passenger segments that have diverse expectations regarding service quality. Despite efforts to standardized several key processes at airports such as at check-in, bag drop, security screening, passport control and departure gates, it means that, unlike in manufacturing, where companies strive for ´zero-defect´ production, it is almost impossible to avoid defects in service delivery. Instead, service failures are inevitable at airports, and while failures with some service attributes may have little impact on overall satisfaction, the impact of others may be significant and subsequently affect behavioural intentions such as airport reuse and/or recommendation.
Despite the importance of service quality to airports and an understanding of the attributes that contribute to it, maintaining service quality at airports is a challenge for several reasons. Prior to Covid-19, many airports were getting busier and experiencing pressure on their ability to maintain and improve standards. For instance, the world's airports served 9.1 billion passengers in 2019 (ACI, 2020a), and this was expected to more than double by 2040 based on a projected growth rate of 4.1% per annum (ACI, 2019b). Global passenger traffic at airports has declined dramatically during Covid-19, and forecasts are expected to be revised downwards. However, as traffic begins to recover, new safety and hygiene measures, including the ongoing need for social distancing, mean that airports will still experience pressure on their ability to maintain and improve standards, albeit while serving relatively fewer passengers.
Demand for airports is typically uneven (Halpern, 2011) and consequently there are often temporal variations in the delivery of service quality and how it is perceived by passengers. Airports are also exposed to local disruptions (i.e. to equipment or infrastructure, airline operations, or surface access) and external events such as adverse weather conditions that can affect service quality. Despite the use of technologies to standardize many of the key processes at airports, service encounters still often involve people who can affect how services are delivered. Also, airport operators are not the only providers of services at an airport – some are offered by partners such as airlines, handling agents, concessionaires, security companies and governmental agencies (Halpern & Graham, 2013), and different providers may have conflicting objectives and views on how service quality should be delivered. This is noted by Meyer (2017) in the context of the airport-airline relationship because he claims that airports and airlines currently operate as separate entities, resulting in alternative views of the passenger journey which is hindering industry progression in terms of service quality and innovation. Another issue is that airports cater to increasingly fragmented passenger segments (Halpern, 2018b). This makes it much harder for airports to meet the different expectations of their passengers.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effects of Airports Safety and Security Issues Enforced on Customer Satisfaction.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Many airports have become complex and commercial businesses that compete at various levels (Halpern, 2018a). This includes competing for passengers that are needed to fill the aircraft of the airport's airline customers but also whose spending has become a vital source of income at airports (ACI, 2019a).
In addition, Bogicevic et al. (2013) stated that problems experienced in security-check are one of the main factors causing passenger dissatisfaction. Morever, security process can cause time stress which, would be a large determinant of anxiety (Bogicevic et al., 2016). Perng et al. (2010) found that satisfaction with security officers was influential on passenger satisfaction. In a similar study (Tuncer & Gavcar, 2014); police officers' controlling passports being effective, the security personnel's being polite, the security checks' being sensitive, the police officers' being courteous and helpful, security check layovers' being low, passport controls' being fast all have important effect on passenger satisfaction.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Effects of Airports Safety and Security Issues Enforced on Customer Satisfaction. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To identify the environments that trigger poor perceived safety at airports.
- To assess whether passengers' perceived safety is associated with perception of airport environments on passengers' status and way of traveling to the airport.
- To evaluate the cost of the variation of passengers' perceived safety is explained by airport environments.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does the environment trigger poor perceived safety at airports?
- Does passengers' perceive safety associated with perception of airport environments on passengers' status and way of traveling to the airport?
- What is the cost of the variation of passengers' perceived safety is explained by airport environments?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Passengers' satisfaction level does not differ significantly according to their gender and level of education
- H1: Passengers' satisfaction level differs significantly according to their gender and level of education
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significant relationship between security services at airports and passenger satisfaction.
- H1: There is a significant relationship between security services at airports and passenger satisfaction.
1.7 Significance of Study
The relevance of this research entails that, an efficient air transportation system and shipping modes helps in quality improvement of the air transport system and also elevate international and domestic trade, business and economic process of a nation. This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Effects of Airports Safety and Security Issues Enforced on Customer Satisfaction in Nigeria.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Education: It is the process of giving systematic instruction especially at a school or university.
Impact: A marked effect or influence.
