An Application of Correspondence Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling in the Positioning of International Air Carriers

摘要

The paper explores how international airline passengers position distinct air carriers by using correspondence analysis and multidimensional scaling, which produce perceptual maps of relative positions of airlines and their service attributes. Empirical data was collected from Taiwanese air passengers who have flown from Taipei to Tokyo and Singapore. Factor analysis was initially performed to reduce a large number of service attributes of airlines into a small set of underlying factors. The results of multidimensional scaling reveal that some air carriers are closely competitive, as shown by relative positions in the perceptual map. On the contrary, certain airlines possess a unique service quality profile and are not strongly associated with other airlines, showing up as distant points on the perceptual map. Interestingly, correspondence analysis creates perceptual maps of relative positions of airlines and service attributes that are similar to multidimensional scaling. However, the advantage of correspondence analysis over multidimensional scaling is that the analyst is not required to obtain respondents' ratings for each attribute, making data collection relatively quick and easy. Finally, the study provides specific suggestions about how air carriers on each route can use the results to improve their performance or build a differential edge.