A fuzzy logic model for competitive assessment of airline service quality

The purpose of this paper is to develop an operational performance model with direct applicability to the post‐9/11 US airline industry. The premise is to come as close as possible to ideal performance goals for five operational parameters i.e., on‐time arrival, turnaround time, cascade delay percentage, taxi‐out time, and taxi in time, based on length of haul. Since airline‐operating performance depends upon several factors that cannot be described in crisp terms, these data fit within fuzzy logic set descriptors and theory. A database of numerical scores is transformed into a fuzzy database, and then fuzzy probabilities are used to assess the belief that the scores fall within the desired range for each criterion. Industry data are used to compare individual airline carrier performance measurements to anticipated industry operational goals. Application potential for the model is not restricted, however, to this industry.