Investigating the Relationships Among Security Communications, Passenger’s Awareness and Satisfaction Toward Preflight Security Checks

ABSTRACT Objective: This study proposes the conceptual framework to verify the relationship among preflight security communications and passengers’ awareness of dangerous goods and satisfaction of security checks. Background: All air transport stakeholders strive to ensure aviation’s safety and security. As key players, airlines and airports must comply with International Air Transport Association and International Civil Aviation Organization regulations, so they usually establish strict security mechanisms to prevent possible accidents resulting from passengers bringing dangerous goods on board. However, excessive or unnecessary security checks often cause inconvenience for passengers, who are dissatisfied with security checks and may be discouraged from flying again. Method: With 300 valid questionnaires collected from domestic route passengers in Taiwan, analysis of variance and structural equation modeling were conducted to explore the differences in the passengers’ awareness of dangerous goods and the impacts of security communications and awareness of dangerous goods on the satisfaction with the security checks. Results: Older and retired passengers are prone to have relatively low awareness about dangerous goods. Among the 3 types of preflight security communications, counter and website communications had stronger impacts on passengers’ satisfaction of security checks. Conclusion: This research built a research framework on security communication, awareness of dangerous goods, and satisfaction of security checks for aviation operators and administrative authorities to design more effective security communication methods to improve aviation safety and security.