ABSTRACT:
Date: 2024-05-28
Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr
Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University
Authors: Faraj Linell, Hanna Pearla, Linnarud Maja
(02/09/24) (02/11/06) (02/02/05)
Title: En studie av SAS lojalitetsprogram och ägarbyte
Supervisor: Peter Ekman
Keywords: Loyalty Program, SAS, full-service airline, ownership, passenger loyalty
Research questions: In what way does EuroBonus fulfill the purpose of a loyalty program? How do the key factors identified by Akamavi et al. (2015) relate to passenger loyalty in SAS EuroBonus? How is SAS passenger loyalty affected by the change in ownership and partnership shift?
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how SAS EuroBonus influences passenger loyalty and whether SAS passengers have been affected by the change of ownership.
Method: The study is based on a qualitative approach where 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with SAS members in EuroBonus.
Conclusion: The study indicates that the SAS loyalty program has a positive effect on passenger loyalty by both attracting new customers and maintaining existing customer relationships. The study also shows that SAS passenger loyalty depends on factors such as employees, service recovery, customer satisfaction, trust, price and safety, which together create loyalty. The study also reveals that price and safety play a greater role for full-service airlines than for low-cost airlines, which means that Akamavi et al. (2015) model needs to be supplemented with safety as an influencing factor to be applied to full-service airlines. The change of ownership from Star Alliance to SkyTeam has no significant impact on passenger loyalty.
2024. , p. 39