Four AAI-run airports win ACI’s service quality awards

ASQ is a globally established programme that measures passengers' satisfaction while travelling through an airport. ACI, an independent agency of airport operators, carries out international benchmarking of aerodromes.

"Four AAI airports - Chandigarh, Mangaluru, Trivandrum and Lucknow - have been adjudged the best in the world in recently announced 2019 ASQ awards. These airports won 10 awards in four categories," Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a release on Monday.

The survey measures passengers' satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators that include eight major categories such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage, retail, airport environment and arrival services. 

The AAI airports have won the best airports awards based on size and region, environment and ambience, customer service and infrastructure and facilitation, as per the AAI.

The survey was carried out at around 356 airports across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

The survey results are monitored by airports tariff regulator AERA, NITI Aayog and civil aviation ministry, it added.

The AAI, which works under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country. 

This year, 140 awards have been won by 84 individual airports. 

Consistent winners Indianapolis International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, and Toronto Pearson, Aeroporto di Roma-Fiumicino, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Delhi’s, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and Sheremetyevo International Airport have this year been joined by first time recipients from all regions.

First time recipients include Kotoka International Airport (Accra, Ghana), Mangalore Airport (Mangalore, India), Supadio Airport (Pontianak, Indonesia), Aalesund Airport (Alesund, Norway), Aeropuerto de Hierro (Valverde, Spain), Aeropuerto de Melilla (Melilla, Spain), Aeropuerto de San Sebastián (San Sebastien, Spain), Bodo Airport (Bodo, Norway), Izmir Adnan Menderes International Airport (Izmir, Turkey), Copenhagen Airport (Copenhagen, Denmark), Aeropuertos Ecologicos de Galapagos S.A. Ecogal (Galapagos, Ecuador), Capital Region International Airport (Lansing, United States), Stockholm-Bromma Airport (Stockholm, Sweden), and St John’s International Airport (St. John’s, Canada).

“The Airport Service Quality Awards represent the highest possible recognition for airport operators around the world and recognise excellence in customer experience,” ACI World director-general Angela Gittens said.

“The awards this year have been won by a diverse group of winning airports from around the world which illustrates the industry-wide commitment to delivering exceptional customer experience.

“Delivering a better customer experience is an important business strategy in an increasingly competitive airport industry. ACI’s global ASQ programme is the only one that not only recognises excellence but also provides airports with objective measurement and benchmarking to help drive their performance.

“We are pleased to note that the five winning airports in the category of ‘Best airport by size and region (under two million passengers per year in Europe)’, are all first-time winners of an ASQ award.”

The Airport Service Quality programme is the world’s leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking programme. In 2019, more than half of the world’s 8.8 billion travellers passed through an ASQ airport.