UAE. Incheon International Airport of South Korea landed the top honour of “˜Best Airport Worldwide’ in the 2006 Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality Awards held last week in Dubai.
The awards recognise customer service efforts made by airports taking part in the ACI programme and are based on responses to surveys of passengers conducted by a neutral third party throughout the year. Retail and shopping facilities form a key element of the qualitative ratings.
The awards were held during the Gala Dinner at the ACI Airport Business & Trinity Forum, organized by ACI and The Moodie Report. Many of the awards were presented by the world’s top concessionaires, who were attending the Forum.
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| (Left to right) The Best Airports Worldwide awards went to Incheon (first), Hong Kong (second) and Kuala Lumpur (third) | ||
Incheon finished ahead of rival airports Hong Kong International and Kuala Lumpur International, which came in second and third respectively – the second year in a row that all top three are from Asia Pacific. On a regional basis, Zurich came top in Europe, Dallas Fort Worth in the Americas, Abu Dhabi in Africa-Middle East and Incheon in Asia-Pacific. [See the full list of winners below]
In presenting the awards, ACI Director-General Robert Aaronson said that airports around the world havhave made customer service a major focus: “Those airports that participate in the Airport Service Quality programme have made a special commitment to customer service improvement by measuring how passengers respond to services on offer and benchmarking their services against other airports around the world.
“The awards recognise the airports that have received the passenger’s vote of confidence. The responses suggest that what drives customer satisfaction appears to be a good knowledge of passenger requirements. There is no single magic bullet, it is a question of understanding passenger preferences at each airport.”
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| (Left) Halifax won Best Airport, Fewer Than 5 Million Passengers; (Centre) Central Japan took the Best Airport, 5-15 Million Passengers award; (Right) A Singapore representative receives the second-placed prize for Best Airport, 25-40 Million Passengers | ||
The surveys, conducted by research group DKMA on behalf of ACI, found that frequent flyers look for swift and hassle-free airport experiences with minimum of contact with staff. Conversely, leisure or infrequent flyers place considerable emphasis on friendly and courteous staff. Leading factors for custocustomer satisfaction are the ambience of the airport and the cleanliness of the terminal, followed by feeling safe and having comfortable waiting areas.
ACI Director of Security Craig Bradbrook commented: “The Airport Service Quality programme works alongside a number of other projects that ACI and our airports are involved in – often with other industry partners – to improve the entire experience that passengers have at airports. Technology can provide for speedy and efficient journeys, with the advent of self service kiosks, internet check-in and biometric border processing for example. However, the personal service that airport staff provide is also incredibly important.”
This year, a new award was presented – for the airports that have cultivated a strong customer service culture among all staff on the airport, including airline, border agency, retail and security employees. The “Airport People” awards went to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East-Africa, Brussels in Europe, Incheon in Asia Pacific and Halifax in the Americas.
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(Left) Best Airport, Middle East-Africa went to Abu Dhabi; (Right) Zurich took the Best Airport, Europe honour | |
The Director General’s Special Recognition Award went to Dubai Airport for showing leadership, innovation and commitment to quality in airport service delivery over the past decade.
Full list of ACI Airport Service Quality Award winners
Awards are presented to the top three airports, although we provide the top five ranking in each category below.
Best Airport Worldwide
1) Incheon, South Korea
2) Hong Kong
3) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4) Singapore
5) Dallas Fort Worth, US
Best Airport Europe
1) Zurich, Switzerland
2) Brussels, Belgium
3=) Helsinki, Finland
3=) Porto, Portugal
5) Munich, Germany
Best Airport Americas
1) Dallas Fort Worth, US
2) Halifax, Canada
3=) Ottawa, Canada
3=) Detroit Metropolitan, US
5) San Diego, US
Best Airport Middle East/Africa
1) Abu Dhabi, UAE
2) Cape Town, South Africa
3) Doha, Qatar
4) Johannesburg, South Africa
5) Durban, South Africa
Best Airport Asia Pacific
1) Incheon, South Korea
2) Hong Kong
3=) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3=) Singapore
5) Central Japan (NGO)
Best Airport, fewer than 5 million passengers
1) Halifax, Canada
2) Ottawa, Canada
3) Porto, Portugal
4) Malta
5) Sandefjord, Norway
Best Airport, 5-15 million passengers
1) Central Japan (NGO)
2) Adelaide, Australia
3=) Helsinki, Finland
3=) Christchurch, New Zealand
5) Abu Dhabi, UAE
Best Airport, 15-25 million passengers
1) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2) San Diego, US
3) Zurich, Switzerland
4) Brussels, Belgium
5) Vancouver, Canada
Best Airport, 25-40 million passengers
1) Incheon, South Korea
2) Singapore
3) Detroit Metropolitan, US
4) Toronto, Canada
5) Munich, Germany
Best Airport, over 40 million passengers
1) Hong Kong
2) Dallas Fort Worth, US
3) Denver, US
4) Amsterdam, Netherlands
5) Beijing, China
Best Domestic Airport
1) Austin, US
2) Halifax, Canada
3) Ottawa, Canada
4) Dallas Fort Worth, US
5) San Diego, US
Airport People Award
Middle East-Africa) Abu Dhabi, UAE
Europe) Brussels, Belgium
Asia-Pacific) Incheon, South Korea
Americas) Halifax, Canada
DG’s Special Recognition Award
Dubai, UAE
Background to the ASQ Awards
ASQ is the world’s leading airport customer satisfaction benchmarking programme, covering more than 90 airports. The results are based on a questionnaire distributed to passengers at the boarding gate. It covers all aspects of passengers’ experiences at the airport including:
*Navigation
*Airport services and facilities (including retail and food & beverage)
*Security and immigration
*Airport environment
