Elevating Communication Skills Through Service Recurrent Training for Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58344/locus.v5i8.5973Keywords:
Service Recurrent Training, Communication Skills, Cabin Crew, Adult Learning Theory, Airline IndustryAbstract
In the hypercompetitive airline industry, cabin crew communication serves as a critical determinant of brand equity and passengers’ satisfaction. Even though Garuda Indonesia has been awarded “The World’s Best Cabin Staff” for six years by Skytrax, the internal data shows passengers’ complaints regarding communication. To address this, Garuda Indonesia mandates annual Service Recurrent Training. However, empirical evaluation of the influence to communication skills remains absent. This study examined the impact of Service Recurrent Training on the communications skills of Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew using quantitative explanatory survey design. The data were collected from 91 active cabin crew members through Likert-scale closed-ended questionnaires. Pearson correlation and simple linear regression analysis reveal a positive and significant effect (r=0.796, p<0.05). The coefficient of determination (R2=0.0634) indicates that training contributes to 63.4% of the variance in communication skills, with each unit increase in training quality predicting an improvement of 0.692 point. The study concludes the strong and significant impact of Service Recurrent Training on Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew communication skill. It is advisable to extend the duration of simulation, develop facilitators’ competencies, implement post-training mentoring, and continuous evaluation.
References
Ardhini, Z. (2023, March 8). Pengertian skala Likert, metode, dan contohnya untuk penelitian. Detikcom. https://www.detik.com/bali/berita/d-6607480/pengertian-skala-likert-metode-dan-contohnya-untuk-penelitian
Aruman, E. (2023, April 24). Bisnis penerbangan di Indonesia: Potensi besar atau tantangan berat? Mix Marcomm. https://mix.co.id/new-product/bisnis-penerbangan-di-indonesia-potensi-besar-atau-tantangan-berat/
Asata, M. N., Okonkwo, I., & Okolo, C. H. (2022). Empirical evaluation of refresher training modules on cabin crew performance scores. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, 9(1), 615–625. https://ijsrst.com/home/issue/view/article.php?id=IJSRST2215432
Badan Pusat Statistik. (2026, March 2). Perkembangan transportasi nasional Januari 2026 [Siaran pers]. https://www.bps.go.id/en/pressrelease/2026/03/02/2549/
Bisnis. (2025, March 3). Jumlah penumpang pesawat domestik anjlok 10% sepanjang Januari 2025. Bisnis.com. https://ekonomi.bisnis.com/read/20250303/98/1843969/jumlah-penumpang-pesawat-domestik-anjlok-10-sepanjang-januari-2025
Bjørnstad, G. (2020). The responsibility of cabin crew in aircraft safety procedures. In Aviation safety and security (pp. 28–42). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429070372-3
Darmawan, D. (2014). Metode penelitian kuantitatif. Remaja Rosdakarya.
Efthymiou, M., Usher, D., O'Connell, J. F., & Warnock-Smith, D. (2025). Human operators in air transport: A decade of systematic reviews. Journal of the Air Transport Research Society, 4, 100059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jatrs.2025.100059
Garuda Indonesia. (2022). Customer satisfaction index January–December 2022 [Laporan internal]. PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.
Gultom, C. S. H., Komala, R. M., & Akbar, M. (2021). Flight attendant training program evaluation based on Kirkpatrick model. Nusantara Science and Technology Proceedings, 4(4), 352–361. https://doi.org/10.11594/nstp.2021.1040
Hermina, D., Subiyanto, E. D., & Hadi, S. (2025). Professionalism of flight attendants in the global era: The influence of communication skills, cultural intelligence, training, and professional ethic. JM Motivasi, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.29406/jmm.v22i1.8425
International Air Transport Association. (2024). Global Passenger Survey 2024. https://www.iata.org/en/publications/store/global-passenger-survey-2024/
Jaya, I. M. L. M. (2020). Metode penelitian kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Anak Hebat Indonesia.
Kaynak, Ö. M. (2024). Reflection of crew resource management (CRM) trainings to real-life field practice in air passenger transportation: A qualitative research. Journal of Aviation, 8(3), 347–355. https://doi.org/10.30518/jav.1527000
Khan, S. (2022). World's best airline cabin crew 2022. Jetline Marvel. https://jetlinemarvel.net/worlds-best-airline-cabin-crew-2022/
Kim, M. (2022). The effect of cabin crews' verbal and non-verbal communication on rapport formation and customer trust in the With-Corona era. Journal of Tourism and Leisure Research, 34(8), 135–151. https://kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002858461
Kiilu, A. M., & Kimwolo, A. (2024). Moderating effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between human capital and competitive advantage of regional airlines operating from Kenya. Journal of Strategic Management, 8(3), 100–113.
Larrea, M. F., Hodge, S., Mavin, T. J., & Kikkawa, Y. (2022). Becoming cabin crew: A situated learning approach to training and workplace experience. Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 27(4), 664–685. https://doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2022.2110778
Lee, C., & Kim, T. (2024). The effect of cabin crew service quality on customer loyalty. The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business, 15(9), 11–19. https://doi.org/10.13106/jidb.2024.vol15.no9.11
LP2M. (2022, January 10). Snowball sampling: Pengertian, metode, keuntungan dan kekurangan. LP2M UMA. https://lp2m.uma.ac.id/2022/01/10/snowball-sampling-pengertian-metode-keuntungan-dan-kekurangan/
Maliki, Z., Harjanto, I., & Saputro, S. H. (2018). Pembelajaran orang dewasa (Vol. 2). Kementerian Riset, Teknologi, dan Pendidikan Tinggi. https://lp3.unitri.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/PKT.-02.-Pembelajaran-Orang-Dewasa.pdf
Noe, R. A. (2020). Employee training and development (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Per?evi?, K., Dragin, A., & Mijatov, M. (2020). Internal and external communication of the cabin crew within “Qatar Airways” airline. Marketing, 51(3), 170–178. https://doi.org/10.5937/markt2003170P
Rukajat, A. (2018). Pendekatan penelitian kuantitatif (1st ed.). Deepublish.
Ryu, J., Kim, J., & Choi-Kwon, S. (2021). Infection prevention performance among in-flight cabin crew in South Korea. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12), 6468. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126468
Santrock, J. W. (2015). Psikologi pendidikan (Buku 2, 6th ed.). Salemba Humanika.
Sarjana, N. (2023, July 26). Definisi data sekunder dan cara memperolehnya. Detikcom. https://www.detik.com/edu/detikpedia/d-6843072/definisi-data-sekunder-dan-cara-memperolehnya
Sezgen, E., Mason, K. J., & Mayer, R. (2023). Airline brand management: A practical perspective to brand management in the airline industry. Research in Transportation Business & Management, 49, 100985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2023.100985
Simarmata, N., & Hedo, D. J. P. K. (2024). Practice makes perfect: “Lagu lama” yang masih “merdu”. Buletin K-PIN, 10(3). https://www.buletin.k-pin.org/index.php/arsip-artikel/1464
Siregar, S. (2014). Metode penelitian kuantitatif. Kencana.
Skytrax. (2023). Garuda Indonesia customer reviews. Airline Quality. https://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/garuda-indonesia/
Suryani, & Hendryadi. (2015). Metode riset kuantitatif: Teori dan aplikasi pada penelitian bidang manajemen dan ekonomi Islam (1st ed.). Prenada Media Group.
Tempo. (2025, March 4). BPS catat jumlah penumpang pesawat Januari 2025: Tujuan internasional naik, domestik turun. Tempo.co. https://www.tempo.co/ekonomi/bps-catat-jumlah-penumpang-pesawat-januari-2025-tujuan-internasional-naik-domestik-turun-1214722
Togtokhmaa, Z., & Mandel, K. M. (2020). Competences of adult learning facilitators in Europe: Analyses of five European research projects. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 10(2), 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1556/063.2020.00016
Wirtz, J. (2020). Organizational ambidexterity: Cost-effective service excellence, service robots, and artificial intelligence. Organizational Dynamics, 49(3), 1–9.
Xu, W., Nasri, N. M., & Jamaludin, K. A. (2023). In-flight infection prevention and control training for cabin crew in China: A qualitative study. Sustainability, 15(6), 5068. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065068
Yoo, J. H., Jeon, S. J., & Shin, R. H. (2025). Impact of CRM on trust and conflict between civil aviation pilots and cabin crew. The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 35(3), 147–160.
Zagir, T., & Dorner, H. (2021). Revisiting competences of adult learning facilitators: Perspectives from the Mongolian context. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 27(2), 265–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/14779714211003100
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Stephen Natanael, Sylvan Zikri Rahman

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA). that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.




