In today’s competitive aviation landscape, African airports must prioritise creating a distinctive culture that sets them apart. One key differentiator is the attitude and behaviour of airport staff. A positive, customer-centric culture can elevate the passenger experience, drive loyalty, and ultimately, boost revenue.
A handbook by ACI EUROPE outlines the importance of airport culture in enhancing passenger experience and provides guidelines for airport managing bodies to develop and implement effective cultural practices. The handbook emphasizes the significance of airport culture in enhancing the passenger experience, particularly through the role of staff. It aims to provide tools for developing a positive airport culture to enhance passenger services.
ACI EUROPE’s 3P approach — People, Premises, and Processes — provides a structured framework for enhancing the passenger experience at airports by focusing on human interaction, physical infrastructure, and operational efficiency.
The people pillar emphasizes the human element of airport services: Employees who interact with passengers — security, check-in, customer service — play a crucial role in shaping perceptions. ACI EUROPE encourages airports to invest in staff training, empathy, and communication skills. Understanding passenger expectations and feedback helps tailor services to meet diverse needs. Promoting a customer-centric mindset across all airport operations fosters a welcoming and responsive environment.
The premises’ pillar refers to the physical environment and infrastructure of the airport: Clear signage, intuitive wayfinding, and accessible facilities improve navigation and reduce stress. Well-maintained restrooms, seating areas, and climate control contribute to a pleasant experience. Retail, dining, lounges, and visual appeal enhance the overall journey.
The processes’ pillar focuses on the efficiency and reliability of airport operations: Streamlined check-in, security, and boarding procedures reduce wait times and bottlenecks. Automation (e.g., self-service kiosks, biometric screening) improves speed and accuracy. Robust processes ensure resilience during disruptions like delays or emergencies.
This is important as ACI EUROPE’s 3P model helps airports transition from a business-to-business (B2B) mindset to a business-to-consumer (B2C) approach, placing passengers at the heart of airport strategy. By aligning these three pillars, airports can deliver a seamless, satisfying, and safe travel experience.
Airport culture, as defined by the handbook, encompasses shared beliefs and behaviours that influence staff interactions with passengers. It includes six components: Vision, Values, Practices, Human Resources, Narrative, and Place.
A positive airport culture enhances employee satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately drives customer satisfaction and revenue growth. From studies by ACI, a 1% increase in passenger satisfaction correlates with a 1.5% growth in non-aeronautical revenues.
Staff attitude significantly influences passenger perceptions and experiences. The right attitude fosters positive interactions and enhances overall passenger satisfaction.
Courteous and kind behaviour creates a virtuous cycle of positive experiences for both staff and passengers. A positive attitude among staff leads to improved passenger experiences and satisfaction. The right attitude can increase ASQ scores in areas like courtesy and helpfulness. Positive interactions contribute to a welcoming atmosphere for passengers.
African airports face unique challenges, from infrastructure constraints to security concerns. However, many airports are investing heavily in modernization and expansion projects. To maximize returns on these investments, airports must focus on the soft skills that make a hard difference – staff attitude and behaviour.
Airport staff are ambassadors of the airport brand. Their interactions with passengers can make or break the travel experience. A friendly, helpful, and efficient staff can: enhance passenger satisfaction and loyalty, increase revenue through positive word-of-mouth and online reviews, differentiate the airport from competitors, and amongst others, support business growth and expansion.
In cultivating a winning airport culture, airports should work towards making staff prioritize passenger needs, anticipating and exceeding expectations. Also, staff should demonstrate understanding and kindness, particularly in stressful situations. Staff must maintain high standards of competence, courtesy, and communication. Collaboration and mutual support among staff foster a positive, productive environment. And, staff should be flexible and responsive to changing passenger needs and airport operations. This applies not only to the staff of the airport operator but also to all employees in the airport community.
To cultivate a winning airport culture, the airport community should invest in ongoing training programmes that focus on customer service, communication, and cultural awareness. Leaders and managers must model the behaviours they expect from staff – they must walk the talk. Implementing recognition and reward systems that acknowledge and incentivize excellent staff performance should be carried out with objective and measurable results. Fostering an inclusive, supportive work environment that encourages staff feedback and participation is very important also. It becomes important too to establish clear, measurable service standards and monitor performance regularly.
In the competitive world of African airports, staff attitude and behaviour are crucial differentiators. By cultivating a winning airport culture, African airports can elevate the passenger experience, drive loyalty, and boost revenue. By prioritizing customer-centricity, empathy, professionalism, teamwork, and adaptability, airports can create a distinctive culture that sets them apart.
Ekelem Airhihen, an accredited mediator, has an MBA from the Lagos Business School. He is a member, ACI Airport Non-aeronautical Revenue Activities Committee; his interests are in market research, customer experience and performance measurement, negotiation, strategy and data and business analytics. He can be reached on ekyair@yahoo.com and +2348023125396 (WhatsApp only).
