Fuzzy ServPerf model combined with ELECTRE III to comparatively evaluate service quality of international airports in Sicily

•A methodology capable of handling uncertainty in service performance analysis is developed.•The ELECTRE III procedure is adopted to point out the quality ranking of service alternatives.•A strategic analysis concerning service quality evaluation of the three international airports in Sicily is performed.

In this paper a new approach was proposed so as to comparatively evaluate the quality of service alternatives. In particular, a fuzzy extension of the ServPerf service conceptual model was considered to estimate quality scores of fundamental service criteria, whereas the non-compensative multi-criteria decision-making ELECTRE III method was employed to point out the quality ranking of service alternatives on the basis of which the comparative service quality analysis was performed. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an empirical study concerning service quality evaluation of the three international airports in Sicily (Italy) was conducted with detailed proposals for passenger service improvement. The results showed that only few key service aspects played a focal role in quality airport service. Moreover, the effects on the evaluation of service quality, arising from customers' uncertainties, were computed, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach.