Brand relationship between global airline alliances and their member airlines

Abstract

Brands and branding are crucial to global airline alliances in establishing competitive superiority. Although most previous studies have focused on the operational and strategic advantages of alliances, this study investigates the brand relationship between global airline alliances and their member airlines. The equity effect of alliance and member brands on passenger purchasing is also examined. A conceptual model is proposed in which member airlines dominating local markets are assumed to directly influence alliance brands, whereas brands that are unfamiliar to passengers are assumed to influence passenger brand attitude toward an alliance through a halo construct. A stratified sampling survey was conducted at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to collect empirical data for evaluating the proposed model. Overall, 450 respondents were included: 137 from EVA Air (Star Alliance), 138 from China Airlines (SkyTeam), and 175 from Cathay Pacific (Oneworld). Through structural equation modeling, this study showed that passengers had dissimilar perceptions about member airlines in an alliance, implying that the global airline alliance brand has not been completely integrated with its member brands. The alliance and airline brands were mutually endorsed; however, their effects on passenger purchasing were unequal. Although enhancing passenger perceived equity of individual airlines considerably changed the purchasing of airline and alliance products, improving passenger brand attitude toward an alliance substantially affected the purchasing of alliance products but not airline products. In addition, passenger purchasing behaviors among the three global airline alliances were dissimilar. Finally, according to the results, managerial implications for alliances and airlines are provided. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.