In order to cover this goal, four quality indexes related to the airline industry, and two economic performance. In order to cover this goal, four quality indexes related to the airline industry, and two economic performance indicators, revenues and return on investment (ROI), have been considered. Data from American airline companies from 2006 to 2013 have been used to determine if airlines’ profitability increases when service quality improves. Considering the effects on airlines’ profitability, the results confirm the positive and significant influence of service quality on the ROI of the US airline companies. A non-significant effect was found for airline revenues in relation to quality No previous research in this area has been done so these findings could encourage airline companies to invest in quality, since this policy can have a positive return on their profitability.

Versión en español AbstractPurpose: The main purpose of the present study is to conduct a literature review of the contribution made by safety in air transport, based on the existing international academic literature in the field of the social sciences. It primarily attempts to examine and verify the relationship between safety-related concepts (co-occurrence), the link between the different authors (co-authorship) and the corresponding citations (co-citations).Design/methodology: To achieve the established objectives, a systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted using the Scopus database between the years 1990 and 2016, identifying international academic papers related to the research topic of the present study.Findings: It has been verified, on the one hand, that safety in the air transport sector is a field of growing interest, as the number of papers has increased considerably in recent years, thus demonstrating the importance that this topic has acquired over time. On the other hand, however, it must be mentioned that the total quantity of papers related to the topic is low in terms of absolute numbers.The results of the co-occurrence analysis show that the most important aspect of safety is safety management, while the strongest link is between safety management and aircraft accidents, a fact that is foreseeable a priori.-71-Intangible Capital -http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/ic.918 Originality/value: The approach used allows a better view of the academic contribution made in relation to safety; this serves as the link among the different elements of the concept studied, and it demonstrates the growing interest in this area.

Safety has always been and is a key management aspect in the airline industry. Airline companies, airport management, aviation staff and air traffic control perform the impossible to ensure the lowest possible number of accidents and incidents for minimizing the number of fatalities. The main objective of this paper is first, to determine and analyze literature published concerning safety in the airline business and, second, to see the relationship between safety and other related economic and financial indicators. The sample used is a collection of international airlines included in the JACDEC safety index, considering longitudinal data for the years 2011−2015. The results revealed a non-significant effect for safety on the profitability of the airline companies, whereas a significant effect of safety on airlines’ revenues was shown.

This study was conducted to determine if quality had any effects on US airline economic performance. Therefore, four service quality indexes used in the US air transportation industry were included together with two economic performance indicators, passenger revenues and return on investment (ROI). Longitudinal data from the US airline companies from 2006 to 2015 were used to determine if airline activity or profitability increased when service quality improved. The results of this research demonstrated and confirmed the positive and significant influence of service quality on the ROI of US airline companies. Meanwhile, a non-significant effect was found for quality on airline passenger revenues. As none of the previous research studies have considered the four quality indexes altogether, the findings of this work could encourage airline companies to invest in quality, since this policy can have a positive consequence for their profitability.

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