The Airport Customer Experience: Customer experience awards for airports 

EKELEM AIRHIHEN

Ekelem Airhihen,  a trained mediator, chartered accountant, certified finance and IT consultant, certified in policy and public leadership, and an airport customer experience specialist, has an MBA from the Lagos Business School. He is a member, ACI Airport Non-aeronautical Revenue Activities Committee; and is certified in design and implementation of KPI for airports. He can be reached on ekyair@yahoo.com and +2348023125396 (WhatsApp only)

The Airports Council International, which is the voice of the world’s airports, has over the years been investing heavily on customer experience. A research conducted by the body had revealed that customer experience where positive improves on the revenue earning capacity of an airport.

Airports of various sizes were recognised recently for customer service excellence throughout 2022 by the Airports Council International in their annual Airport Service Quality ( ASQ ) award. This customer experience and benchmarking award which was launched in 2006, is the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction programme with close to 400 participating airports in 95 countries and it is sponsored by Amadeus. It is based on live research through surveys gathered at airports. The travellers, in this survey, rate their satisfaction on the day of travel.

There are over 30 performance indicators covered by this survey which looks at key components of the customer experience at the airport where the survey is undertaken. Some of them are : Ease of wayfinding, check-in, shopping and dining offering. It is a dashboard that fully reflects the experience of the traveller at the airport and it is also a source of industry benchmarking.

In the year 2022, more than 465,000 surveys were collected and there were 144 awards won by 75 airports around the world. Four new categories were introduced namely: Airport with the Most Dedicated Staff; Easiest Airport Journey; Most Enjoyable Airport and Cleanest Airport. There was also the Director General’s Roll of Excellence. This honour goes to five airports that have won multiple awards over a five year period in the last ten years as part of the ASQ programme. The winners will receive their awards at a ceremony in South Korea in September this year.

Elena Avila, Amadeus’ executive vice president of airport IT and airline operations, said: “The awards rightly celebrate airports striving to make positive changes in the face of challenges impacting our industry. Underpinned by closer collaboration between all stakeholders, we recognise modern technologies such as data analytics, biometrics, and the cloud are key to transforming the passenger experience.

African airports in working towards showing up and being counted as part of those making a difference need to imbibe a culture of goal setting and performance measurement.

Collaboration for customer experience will have more appeal when stakeholders see themselves as working towards the same goal with the airport operator. This means that their voice will need to be heard when these goals are being set. Engaging them at the goal setting stage, agreeing with stakeholders on performance measurement metrics as well as getting everybody to know where the airport is now and where it intends to be, going forward, are essential for meeting the requirements of the ASQ survey. These will then be reviewed at the stakeholder meetings and suggestions taken for improvement.

Modern technologies such as data analytics, biometrics and the cloud are matters to be incorporated at the goal setting session. It will involve looking at requirements for capacity building across the airport and also getting employees to see what they stand to gain when everyone works towards meeting the customer with a positive airport experience. This also should be communicated to them. Their voice should be heard in the goal setting process so that they see themselves as owners of the process and not one imposed on them from above.

For best overall airports by size and region, it is an award that recognizes airports with the top 20 percent overall satisfaction score by size and region at departure. The airports in Africa are: Moi International Airport (Mombasa, Kenya) for under two million passengers per year; Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (Diass, Senegal) and Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (Mauritius, Mauritius) for two million to five million passengers per year; Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport (Casablanca, Morocco) for five million to 15 million passengers per year.

For the airports with the Most Dedicated Staff, this award recognizes the top five percent of airports for the efforts by key stakeholders and staff across different checkpoints.

The winner in Africa is Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport (Casablanca, Morocco).

Easiest Airport Journey award recognizes the top five percent of airports for their performance on the travellers’ ease of going through the airport.

The winner for Africa region is Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport (Casablanca, Morocco)

Most Enjoyable Airport  award recognizes the top five percent of airports for their offerings (restaurants, shops, entertainment) and efforts to make the waiting time enjoyable and comfortable. Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (Diass, Senegal) is the winner for Africa.

Cleanest Airport award recognizes the top five percent of airports for their overall cleanliness, an element that is key to the satisfaction of passengers. The winner in Africa is Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (Diass, Senegal).

Knowledge sharing across African airports will go a long way in making more airports aspire for recognition in some of these categories. It begins with setting SMART goals and working towards them step by step.

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