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Five-in-a-row: Incheon International Airport President and CEO CW Lee celebrates his airport’s triumph |
CHINA/INTERNATIONAL. Airports Council International (ACI) honoured the winners of its prestigious Airports Service Quality (ASQ) Awards at a ceremony in Hainan, China, last week. The event took place during the fifth ACI Asia Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference & Exhibition, hosted by HNA Group.
As previously reported, Incheon International Airport won the top prize for the fifth year in a row. South Korea’s major gateway scored the highest marks in three ASQ categories to become the Best Airport Worldwide, Best Airport in Asia Pacific and also Best Airport with annual passenger traffic between 25 and 40 million.
ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said: “It gives me great pleasure each year to recognise those airports which, in the opinion of the more than 270,000 passengers interviewed worldwide, have provided the best services. As airport managers we have evolved from managing facilities to managing a total passenger experience. I am immensely proud to be part of an industry which consistently raises the bar on service quality, year after year.
“The drive for service excellence is especially strong in the Asia Pacific Region. The five top performers in the worldwide category in 2009 are from the ACI Asia Pacific region – Seoul (Incheon), Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Hyderabad – and by the way, I have visited each of those airports at least once and can personally attest to their excellence.”
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Tel Aviv Ben Gurion won first place in the Middle East Region |
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Keflavik Airport in Iceland captured the top prize in the European regional category |
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Austin-Bergstrom International Airport took the top prize for North America |
Gittens added: “Continued performance improvement is not confined to these top five airports, as our ASQ survey data show. We see implementation of best practices and investments in new facilities across all 33 participating airports in this region and more broadly, an increase in overall passenger satisfaction at the 145 airports around the globe that participate in the ASQ programme.”
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Hong Kong International won the award for best airport handling over 40 million passengers |
The ASQ airport customer service benchmarking programme captures passengers’ perceptions of the quality of 34 aspects of service that they have experienced at airports. Through regular interviewing at the gates of passengers prior to embarkation, the programme ensures coverage of all seasons and all peaks and troughs.
ASQ is used by many airports as one of the key performance indicators of their airport’s service. Quarterly reports on performance are provided to the participants during the year.
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Executives from Cairo (top) and New Delhi (above) receive their prizes for most improved airports in Africa and Asia Pacific, respectively, from ACI World Director General Angela Gittens |
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