Singapore Airlines: what it takes to sustain service excellence – a senior management perspective

Citation

(2003), "Singapore Airlines: what it takes to sustain service excellence – a senior management perspective", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 7 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2003.26707bae.007

Singapore Airlines: what it takes to sustain service excellence – a senior management perspective

Singapore Airlines: what it takes to sustain service excellence – a senior management perspective

Wirtz, J. and Johnston, R., Managing Service Quality,2003,Vol. 13 No. 1.

Observing that Singapore Airlines is consistently recognized as the "best" airline in the world, interviews a number of senior managers from the organization to discover their views of how that advantage is sustained; reports their perspective on service excellence and key challenges, the challenge of delivering service excellence via a "total approach", understanding customers and anticipating their needs (by listening to customers and front-line staff, understanding lifestyles, and taking seriously both compliments and complaints), training and motivating the front line (particularly using teams), and managing with an eye for details and profits. Distils a number of lessons for other companies aspiring to the service quality excellence of Singapore Airlines.