An evaluation of airport service experience: An identification of service improvement opportunities based on topic modeling and sentiment analysis

• Published in: Research in transportation business & management Vol. 43; p. 100744
• Main Authors: Kiliç, Sena, Çadirci, Tuğçe Ozansoy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2022
• Subjects: Airport service experience; Opportunity mining; Sentiment analysis; Topic modeling; Topic modeling; Sentiment analysis; Opportunity mining; Airport service experience
• ISSN: 2210-5395; 2210-5409
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rtbm.2021.100744

With the increase in airport alternatives and airport service variation, passengers' perception of the airport experience has changed. By working with consumer experience through customer reviews, this study aims to define customer experiences and expectations. Topic modeling and sentiment analysis are applied to 1224 passengers' comments on the top 10 airports collected from Skytrax. Ten topics consisting of baggage claim, immigration process, access gates, procedures at the airport, leisure activities, employee service, transfer/transit amenities, terminal facilities, passport control, ambient conditions are identified. With a few exceptions, positive sentiments have been obtained for these topics. Finally, managerial implications and limitations are shared. •Text mining techniques like topic modeling sentiment analysis and opinion mining were used in order to analyze customer-generated content for evaluating airport experience.•Customers reviews of airports were extracted from Skytrax.•Topic model was built to predicting the main topics in airport customer services.•Findings revealed that the top three service dimensions in terms of importance are leisure activities, ambient conditions and immigration processes.