Quantifying an Airline's brand Image: The Ryanair disutility effect

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

This paper supports the hypothesis that airline brand image might seriously impact passenger booking behavior. To offset the disadvantage associated with a negative image, an airline will need to decrease ticket prices. Thus, airline brand name reputation can be monetized and translated into airline revenue loss. We use data from a choice experiment in which 336 passengers from Germany choose out of two airlines, one of which is always Ryanair. The approach employs choice modeling techniques (including mixed logit) and utilizes Ryanair-specific variables to assess their impact on airline choice probability. Results indicate that the higher the passengers’ income, the lower the choice probability for Ryanair. Results are used to compute the required price reduction to render passengers indifferent to both alternatives and term this “the disutility effect”. Additional computations reveal the potential for airlines to increase revenues by improving their reputation and eliminating operational functions that may lead to a detrimental brand image.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number101600
JournalResearch in Transportation Economics
Volume112
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 105008439105
ORCID /0000-0002-4697-3858/work/187084467

Keywords

Keywords

  • Itinerary choice, Disutility effect, Airline image, Choice modeling