Quality Management as a Strategic Shift in Challenging Times: Evidence from Ground-Handling Enterprises

Abstract

This study aims to examine and comparatively evaluate the quality management practices of three Turkish companies holding A-class ground handling service licenses. In response to increasing air transport demand and sectoral liberalization, the research investigates how structured quality management systems contribute to operational reliability, continuous improvement, and sustainable competitive advantage within airport ground handling operations. In the study, adopting a qualitative research design, the data were analyzed using the Maxqda 24.11 program. The findings indicate that A-class ground handling firms uniformly emphasize total quality management (TQM) in their vision–mission frameworks, supported by strong top management commitment and cultural institutionalization of quality. Maintenance and safety dominate technical priorities. However, firms diverge in strategic positioning, operational control architecture, and leveraging quality as a financial and competitive instrument. Managers in high-reliability aviation services should integrate TQM with digital governance to strengthen safety, sustainability, and competitive positioning. The study proposes hybrid high-reliability TQM model integrating digital governance frameworks