Have a Nice Flight! Understanding the Interplay Between Topics and Emotions in Reviews of Luxury Airlines in the Pre- and Post-Covid-19 Periods

Few studies assessed the impact of Covid-19 on the aviation industry from the passengers’ perspective. This study examined how airline passengers’ emotions (positive and negative) and sub-emotions (joy, trust, surprise, anticipation, fear, sadness, anger, and disgust) changed in the pre-and post-Covid-19 periods. 21,463 reviews from 2014–2022 of top 10 luxury airlines were extracted from Skytrax. Using the lens of the Appraisal Theory of Emotion, the analysis revealed an increase in negative emotion and related sub-emotions after the pandemic. Using topic modeling seven similar topics (namely food, staff, customer service, board, flight, crew, and luggage) and four dissimilar topics (entertainment and drink for pre-Covid-19 and wait and Covid-19 for post-Covid-19) were identified. Regression analysis showed that the topics food and entertainment generated significant positive emotion whereas wait and customer service generated significant negative emotion. The results would help the luxury airlines to identify offerings to improve during the recovery after Covid-19.