Has passenger satisfaction at airports changed with the onset of COVID-19? The case of Seville Airport (Spain)

The changes that have come about at airports in recent decades in the areas of security, deregulation, and technological advances have affected both airport management and the passenger experience at airport facilities. In addition, all around the world, the airport sector has been struck by the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 and 2021. Using a broad sample of data taken from Airport Service Quality (ASQ) surveys and robust econometric methodology, specifically, an Ordered Logit model with Principal Component Analysis, this paper seeks to cover the gap in the academic literature regarding the effect of a worldwide pandemic on passenger satisfaction at airports during the 2015–2021 period, while taking into consideration the passenger profile and journey and airport attributes. It takes as its reference a Spanish regional airport, which had been experiencing a strong expansion process prior to the pandemic. With respect to the variables linked to the passenger profile, a differential behavior is observed in satisfaction depending on nationality, motive for travel, and destination. In addition, the four facility- and airport process-related dimensions are significant, with cleanliness and comfort standing out above all others. These are even more important in a health emergency scenario such as is currently being experienced. Lastly, 2021 is shown to cause a downturn in the positive passenger satisfaction with the airport that had been observed during the first year of the pandemic. Therefore, more long-term management is required alongside the initial rapid and efficient action taken by airports, with up-to-date information for passengers to internalize the inconveniences associated with this long-drawn-out period of uncertainty.