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Users' Perceptions of Service Quality in Murtala Muhammed International

Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Nigeria

Article · August 2014

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Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research - An Open Access International Journal
Vol.3 2014

Users’ Perceptions of Service Quality in Murtala Muhammed

International Airport (Mmia), Lagos, Nigeria
Thomas Kolawole OJO
PhD Researcher, Department of Geography and Regional Planning
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
[email protected]

Abstract
MMIA enjoys the position of aviation hub in Nigeria, in terms of passengers’ and freights movements. This is
because of the available facilities and services. The functionalities of these services and facilities have come
under scrutiny of late. This study looks at this from the users’ perspective aimed at proffering recommendations
for meeting the myriad shortfalls of the Nigeria’s pride. This would offer the airport managers, policy makers,
aviation experts, researchers, air transport students and the general public a useful guide all streamlined for better
service delivery in time, efficiency, comfort, cost and functionality. Furthermore, the troubles in the airline
industry can provide important lessons for managers in other industries interested in questions of customer
service.
Keywords: airport, users’ perceptions, service quality

Introduction
The Aviation industry is still budding in developing countries like Nigeria with minimal passenger and
freight patronages. Without suitable measures put in place to address this, much will be lost in both revenue on
the part of the government and in cash and time on those patronizing the aviation industry.
Three basic facilities are needed for air transportation and they are: the network, terminal facilities and
the carrier. Airports are more than places where trips for air passengers and goods start or stop. They also
provide a location for the concentration, the dispersion, the shipment and vehicular services. Airports also act as
the interchange or interface between road and transport modes.
Passengers leaving on a trip normally want to spend as little time as possible in the terminal. They want
to have baggage carts readily available, a fast check-in, and little time waiting before and quick boarding prior to
a timely departure. Passengers do not appreciate long line-ups, repetitive security checks, crowded departure
areas, line-ups for boarding and a delayed departure. The rise in terrorist activity requires more stringent security
measure. Passengers’ identity must be verified, luggage must be x-rayed, metal detectors and other security
techniques must be used. As a result, passengers must arrive early at the terminal hours before departure, line up
at the security checkpoint, and show their boarding passes and passport numerous times and wait while luggage
is matched with boarded passengers.
The Murtala Mohammed International Airport occupies a noticeable position in the Nigeria’s aviation
industry by accommodating the highest patronage and service delivery. Though Nigeria has four international
airports run by Federal Airport Authourity of Nigeria spread across the federation ( Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Aminu Kano Airport and Usman Dan Fodio Airport), MMIA still attracts huge
investments from both the federal government and the private sector ((www.faan.org.ng, accessed on 20th May,
2010)
The airport as the mover and shaker of the aviation industry in Nigeria has attracted a couple of
researches all aimed at making it to achieve its prime position in terms of passengers movement, aircraft
movements, good service delivery and functional facilities.
This study is nonetheless different from earlier researchers but seeks at striving to assess user’s
perceptions of facilities and services at MMIA. In addition, look into users’ movement in 2009. Also, it will
ascertain the challenges bedeviling the airport and proffer solutions and recommendations for the observed
challenges.
Literature review
Air transport is however relatively expensive but the most reliable, efficient, safe and dynamic mode of
transportation. This mode of transport is concomitant to the development of any economy, as reaction efforts
towards ensuring a sustainable air transport system is of major concern to the operators. Hence the need for
effective management of airspace systems and airport infrastructure for safe and reliable aircraft operations, of
utmost necessity ( Orimoloye, 1996).
Incheon International Airport (Seoul, South Korea) was named World's Best Airport for 2009, in the
World Airport Survey results published by Skytrax. The most prolific World's Best Airport winner in recent
years, Hong Kong International Airport, was pipped into 2nd, with Singapore Changi Airport ranking 3rd best in
the world, according to the latest passenger satisfaction rankings. Cape Town International Airport was named as

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the winner of the Best Airport in Africa award. Customers of Cape Town International Airport specifically
highlighted it as being a friendly airport. That in itself is not an easy task for any airport to achieve and enviable.
These World Airport Awards are based on the results from 9.8 million questionnaires completed by 100
different nationalities of airline passengers in 2009/2010, covering more than 210 airports worldwide. The
survey evaluates traveler experiences across 39 different airport service and product factors - from check-in,
arrivals, and transfer through to departure at the gate. Operating since 1999, the survey is held in highest esteem
for its clarity of process and rigorously applied rules of complete independence ( Skytrax, 2010). The indicators
used invariably affect service quality.
This Service quality as an old concept is pronounced in marketing literature and has been applied by lot
of researchers in different academic fields and organizations. Furthermore it has been identified as one of the
three main obstacles both in the transport literature and governmental publications. Bhat et. al, (2006) and Isaac,
(1993) say the ability to improve public transport performance is closely tied on the ability to measure it. These
measures and dimensions reflect multiple perspectives such as passengers, the service providers (i.e operators),
the community (Taylor, et.al. 2009) and other relevant stakeholders. Blending these perspectives can pose a
daunting challenge. This is because each of them has a way of evaluating service quality. The fact that the
underlying goal and objective of measurement differ and at some point in time in contrasting manner, trade-offs
among these considerations need to be made (Bhat, Guo, Sen, &Weston, 2005; Shet, et. al., 2007; Guihaire &
Hao, 2008).
As an example, while passengers insist on high level of transportation services, operators are focused on
cost-effective operations of the transit system, as well as the authorities play a double role of a stakeholder and
decision maker at the same time.
Service quality measurement based on customer opinions allows the perceived performances of a given
transit service to be analyzed. The main disadvantages of this type of measure are the strong subjectivity of
transit users’ judgments and the failure to take non-users’ (potential users’) perceptions into account. Many
researchers consider the customer’s (travelers’ or user’s) point of view the most relevant for evaluating transit
performance (Ebolli and Mazzulla, 2010; European Commission, 2011; Ali, 2010, Kho et al., 2005; Fellesson
and Friman, 2008). For instance Berry et al. (1990) points out that “customers are the sole judge of service
quality. Passengers evaluate services in many ways that may not be systematically associated with the amount of
use of the service, because the measures of efficiency and effectiveness, as aggregate indicators of total output,
implicitly assume homogeneity of service quality (Hensher, 2007). However, the level of service should be
mainly based on passengers perceptions because their point of view is very relevant for evaluating the
performance of a transport service ( Eboli & Mazzulla, 2011; Ndoh & Ashford, 1994).
Glab, (1998) in Rhoades & Waguespack (2008) indicate that airline service quality is driven by ten key
factors: on-time performance, airport check-in, schedule/flight accommodations, seating comfort, gate location,
aircraft interior, flight attendants, post-flight service, food service, and frequent flyer programs .
Study area and Methods
Nigeria is a republic in western Africa, with a coast along the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Guinea. In
2008 Nigeria’s estimated population was 138,283,240, yielding an average density of 152 persons per sq km
(393 per sq mi), with a birth rate of 40 per 1,000 and a death rate of 16.4 per 1,000. Nigeria’s population is
growing at an average of 2 percent annually—a rapid pace, and little changed from the 1970s. It is by far the
most populated of Africa’s countries, with more than one-seventh of the continent’s people. The people belong
to many different ethnic groups
Its urban population distribution is 48 percent and rural population of 52percent (2008 estimate). Some
of the largest cities in Nigeria are Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Ogbomoso. There are three major languages in
Nigeria, Yoruba (spoken in south-west), Igbo (spoken in south east) and Hausa (spoken in the north). 50 percent
of Nigerians are Muslims, 40 percent are Christians and 10 percent have indigenous beliefs. The life expectancy
rate, infant mortality rate and the literacy rate are 47.8 percent, 94 deaths per 1000 births and 70.7 percent
respectively.
In 2006 Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $115 billion. The GDP has varied widely,
depending on the oil market: $81 billion in 1985, $33.2 billion in 1994, $40.5 billion in 1995. In 2006 Nigeria’s
GDP per capita was only $797, among the lowest in the world and well below the average for sub-Saharan
Africa. The poor have been especially hard hit by Nigeria’s economic problems, notably by devaluations of the
currency, which make basic imported goods, such as food, more expensive; cutbacks in services and increases in
fees for services; and a 8 percent average annual rate of inflation from 2006 to 2008.
Lagos city is in southwestern Nigeria, in Lagos State, located on the Bight of Benin (an arm of the
Atlantic Ocean), the largest city, chief port, and principal economic and cultural center. It served as Nigeria’s
capital until 1991, when the seat of federal government was moved to Abuja, in central Nigeria. The population
of its metropolitan area was about 10.1 million in 2003. The United Nations predicts that the city’s metropolitan
area, which had only about 290,000 inhabitants in 1950, will exceed 20 million by 2010, making Lagos one of
the world’s five largest cities (UN Habitat, 2008)

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The purpose of the research design is descriptive and for the time dimension cross-sectional. The
sample frame for the study comprises the total number of passengers that used MMIA in 2009. Available data
from the statistics units of the airports reveals that 2,333,309 passengers used the MMIA in 2009. The researcher
therefore used .01 percent of the sample frame to arrive at 234. Accidental random sampling makes it possible to
elicit data from available passengers during the data collection period in October, 2010. A well designed
questionnaire was used to collect data on the socio-economic characteristics of the users, purpose of travelling,
user perception of facilities and services were served at both the departure and arrival lounges of MMIA.
Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis such as frequencies, tables and percentages by using Statistical
package for Service Solutions 16.
Analysis of findings
Figure 1 shows that more male traveled than the female, with the male garnering 55.1 percent against the
female’s 44.9 percent.
Figure 1: Gender of Respondents
Gender

Male
Female
Female Male

44.9% 55.1%

Source: Author’s Field survey, 2010.

Table 1 indicates the purpose of travel as was ascertained by the 234 respondents. 48(20.5%)
respondents’ purpose of travel was for Business, 43(18.4%) respondents traveled for leisure, 80 (34.4%)
respondents’ for educational purpose, 38 (18.2%) respondents’ purpose was official 12(5.1%) respondents’
purpose was religious and the rest traveled for medical reasons.

Table 1: Purpose of travel

Purpose of travel Frequency Percent
Business 48 20.5
Liesure 43 18.4
Educational 80 34.2
Official 38 16.2
Religious 12 5.1
Medical 13 5.6
Total 234 100.0
Source; Author’s Field Survey,2010
Facilities and services used in assessing user perception of service quality are: the twin airport
lounge, ticketing process, corporate etiquettes, places of convenience, protocols, power supply, and assistance
offered for the disable and security of lives and property accessing.
• 25(10.7%) respondents were satisfied by the twin-airport departure and arrival lounges
171(73.1%) answered fair, 36 (15.4%) were not satisfied with the airport lounge, and 2(0.9%)
were non-committal on their responses.
• 7 (3%) respondents said the process of ticketing is very well. 149(63.7%) said it was well,
72(30.8%) said the ticketing procedure was fair, 5(2.1%) felt bad about ticketing and only
1(.4%) respondent ranked it bad.
• 137(58.5%) thought the corporate etiquettes of the employees of the airport desirable, 21(9.0%)
said it was fair, .67(28.6%) said the corporate etiquettes were not desirable and 9(3.8%)
respondents reiterated that the corporate etiquettes were not desirable at all.
• 7(3.0%) respondents said the places of convenience were very hygienic, 114(48.7%) ranked as
hygienic, 49(20.9%) ranked it fair, 53 (22.6%) r said the places of convenience were not
hygienic and 11(4.7%) affirmed that the places of convenience were not hygienic at all.

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• 17(7.3%) respondents said protocols were beneficial, 154(65.8%) affirmed that protocols were
cumbersome. 43(18.4%) affirmed that protocols were fair, 17(7.3%) respondents said
protocols were bad and 3 respondents confirmed that protocols were very bad.
• The largest portion of respondents 185(79.1%)) affirmed that power supply was good. This
was followed by 23(9.8%) respondents, who said power supply was very fair. 18(7.7%)
respondents said power supply was bad. 6(2.6%) respondents said power was excellent. The
remaining 2 (.9%) respondents reiterated that power supply was very bad.
• Assistance for the disabled was said to be very good by 192(82.%) respondents. 21(9.0%)
respondents said assistance for the disabled was fair. 114(3.7%) affirmed that assistance for
the disabled was bad. 7 (3.0%) said it was excellent. The remaining 3(1.3%) said assistance for
the disabled was very bad.
• A whopping 202(86.3%) respondents affirmed that security of luggage at the airport was
satisiable.20 (8.5%) said security of luggage at the airport was fair. 7 (3.0%) respondents said
security of luggage was bad. 3 (1.3%) respondents were very satisfied with the security of
luggage at the airport. The remaining 2 (.9%) respondents felt very bad about the security of
luggage.
• 166(70.9%) respondents said there was adequate security at the airport. The remaining 74
respondents said there was very adequate and inadequacy of security at the airport.
There are quite a number of problems encountered in the international wing of Murtala Muhammed
Airport. These problems were collapsed into Seven (6) categorical eminent problems in the international wing of
the airport are: Inadequacy of access from origin to airport, Delay /long queue for ticket purchasing, High cost
access to airport, Inadequate airport facilities / services (specify), Irregular flight schedule, Cancellation of flight.
Table 4.3: Passengers’ movements in 2009
There are three forms of passengers to the international market- incoming, outgoing and transit
passengers. Table 2 therefore indicates these passengers movement in 2009. In the table, 84835 passengers came
into the country through MMIA and 95,367 left the country giving a total number of 1,802,002 passengers used
the airport. In February, 65,743 passengers arrived at the airport, 71.629 departed with 4588 passengers on
transit. In In April, 94,629 passengers arrived at the airport, 96601 passengers departed and 2,178 passengers
were on transit. In May, 86,221 passengers arrived at the airport, 90,554 departed and 2,132 were on transit. In
June, 86,472 passengers arrived, 88965 departed from the airport and 4,517 passengers were on transit.
The latter 6- month witnessed an astronomical increment in patronage. One of the reasons adduced to
this was the salubrious season in operation for oversea travelers. Being the transition from Autumn to summer,
starting from July – October. Hence the increment from 20, 1597
Passengers in July and 20,6881 passengers in October. August and September are the favoured month for
overseas travelers for educational and fun-seeking reasons. The same thing applies to those on transit. December
(225352 passengers) happens to gather enormous passenger flow. Only August places second to it in terms of
passenger movement.
A total of 2,333,309 passengers used the International Wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport in 2009,
64,972 passengers less than 2008, where 2,398,281 passengers used the same airport. The palpable reason given
for the drop in passenger movement was as a result of stringent measures prospective Nigerian passengers would
go through within and outside Nigeria.
Murtala Muhammed International Airport prides itself by the sophisticated facilities and amenities and
services provided at the airport. The facilities, amenities and services provided at the airport are banking hall,
places of convenience, bureau de change, car rental, post office, restaurants and bars are located throughout the
airport, duty free shopping malls, medical facilities, car parking lot for 750 cars/vehicles, telecommunication
stand (MTN, Eltisalat, Glo and Zain), seat out, lounges (arrival and departure), elevator, disabled assistance
service, cart, body scanner and metal detector.
The availability of the above mentioned facilities, amenities and services have in one way or the other
led to the present surge in passengers’ movement. Its provision geared at functionality and comfort ability is
yielding positive results. But there are still more to be done. The elevator was not functional at the time this
project was conducted. There was overcrowding at the departure lounge. Although the seats should be enough
for the passengers if not for the greeters and meters all packed in the departure lounge. Taxis are the easiest and
safest way to and from travel from the airport to the city.
Conclusion and recommendations
Murtala Muhammed International Airport have continued to experience innumerable challenges, such as
high operational cost, increase in passengers movement, huge foreign exchange component to acquire equipment,
absence of maintenance facilities for mandatory checks in the country and the shortage of core aviation
professionals. Malfunctioning elevator, inadequate seats in the departure lounge.
Others are ageing workforce, unfavourable competitive environment and inaccessibility to funding to jump
start their operations. This situation, no doubt, impacts negatively on the airport service delivery and growth.

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Federal Government and aviation actors are aware of the many challenges militating against the operations
of the airlines, their survival and their critical importance to the survival of the aviation industry in the country
and the planned attainment of the government’s vision 20:2020, particularly in the provision of qualitative
services to the travelling public and our collective responsibility of ensuring safety and security in the aviation
sector.
The study has in general terms shown that the International Wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport is
yet to offer its full potential despite being dubbed as the hub of aviation industry in Nigeria and West Africa.
Though huge federal allocation is pumped into the airport, it is still performing below expectation. It is not
surprising that it was listed as one of the best Airport in any category in Africa, despite being the giant of Africa.
This is because of the various constraints earlier highlighted. These recommendations are in consonance in
achieving the Federal Government planned attainment of Vision 20:2020 particularly in the provision of
qualitative services to the traveling public and responsibility of ensuring safety and security in the aviation sector.
In this wise, position the Airport as one of the best in Africa and in the world, the following suggestions were
made to achieve the set target:
Physically, the airport cannot be relocated or abandoned. But, since there is still ample land, there is
room for a new terminal that will succor the traffic and efficiently cater for the shortfall of the present terminal.
An example of this is what obtains in the domestic wing of the airport. There is now a functional and
magnificent MMA2 of enviable standard in the sub-region.
Ground access to the airport is rather costly, because taxi operators at the airport realized that they
own the franchise to ply the route, and passengers with heavy luggage can not easily carry their luggage into the
airport. Also the parking concession fees paid is quite higher when compared with the volume of passengers
available. There IS perennial traffic jam from 7:30-10am every day en route the airport and from 3:00pm beyond
from the airport every day. Prospective passengers are always advised to leave home say 2-3 hours ahead of
their departure to forestall missing of flight. The traffic jam causes man-hour loss and money loss to airport users.
The airport management has to make the airport route more attractive to them by reducing parking concession
fees paid by the taxi operators, car hire operators and proffer a strategic solution to the persistent hold up.
The quality of air services operated is far from being adequate. Hence there is the need to adopt a
strategy to achieve the designed objective of economic operation. For this reason, a reshuffling of flight
schedules to increase the number of daily flights operated is necessary. The issue of cancellation of flight and
unscheduled flight should be looked into.
Improving the airport facilities should be in the form of upgrading some existing facilities and
where possible new ones should be constructed where provision has been made for it in the Airport Master plan.
Some of the facilities needing improvement needing improvements are the air conditions, lighting
and Navigational facilities, and power station
Fire and rescue services need more attention. A new and modern building should be erected for fire
services to house and keep their equipments.
Airport security should be tightened by providing security with equipments that will help in
detecting dangerous weapons carried by hijackers and armed robbers. The security of the airport is very vital not
only to the users but the nation as a whole. Hence to protect the nation from terrorists and assure users of their
safety, the airport terminal building and apron should be provided with close circuit television for screening and
monitoring the activities of suspects Personnel is an invaluable asset, it is therefore important that the
development of staff is given due attention
Senior staff should be encouraged to go for specialized courses and workshops. This could be
achieved by granting study leave with pay and organizing seminars and workshops. Junior staff training should
equally be encouraged just as the senior staff. Specifically the Fire and Rescue Department and the security
section needs proper and specialized training in their respective areas as they perform rather sophisticated and
invaluable function at the airport. Engineering, commercial, public relation and accounts and other specialized
personnel all needed to be trained frequently on techniques in handling airport finance and administration.
Career ladder should be worked out and should help with the planning of educational programmes for the
various caliber of staff. This will encourage them, especially the junior and they will feel they have a future with
the management. Other incentives could de introduced as at when due.
The commercial department should initiate various activities that will yield more revenue for the
management, consequently the head of departments and members of staff in his unit should continually
undertake articulated courses on how to improve airport revenue generation. So also is the account officers who
are to be trained to be prudent in financial management.
The public affairs unit should also be given continuous training training on various ways of selling
their products and airport planning officers that will qualify the potential demand of the airport and also assist in
physical development should have continous training on various techniques of airport planning.
There is need to improve the landscape of the airport. Noise abatement instrument like high
buttressed noise barriers are necessary along the boundary, however the airport landscape should be improved to

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serve as visual screen and noise barrier. In advanced countries, where safety and zoning controls have been
established, no building within a certain distance of high annoyance areas is allowed in order to protect areas
under flight zones. This should be improved upon at the airport.
Many of the recommendation made here requires a reasonable financial involvement. However with
the present revenue generation level of the airport it is apparent that the airport management can implement such
without or with subsidy.

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About the Author

OJO, Thomas Kolawole ([email protected], +233-549913786) is a graduate and post-graduate of
Urban and Regional Planning from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.(LAUTECH, Ogbomoso,
Nigeria) and University of Ibadan(UI, Ibadan, Nigeria) respectively. He is currently a PhD candidate in
Transport Geography at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His research interests include the principles,
practice and problems of urban and regional planning with particular reference to air and public transportation,
urban design, housing development, and project planning and management.

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