Airports Resolve to Safeguard the Interests of the Travelling Public
Montréal, Québec, CANADA, 24 September 2012 – At the 22nd ACI World General Assembly in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the world’s airports unanimously supported a resolution that empowers Angela Gittens, ACI World’s Director General, to begin:
- Developing and implementing a strategy to address these issues with regulators and other aviation partners;
- Working with ICAO to review existing passenger protection policies globally with the aim of establishing minimum standards;
- Establishing recommended practices and guidance material to help airports to coordinate with aviation stakeholders to better prepare for periods of flight disruption or irregular operation; and
- Promoting the adoption of Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) solutions to help aviation partners to optimize their operation and to resolve disruptions and other impacts from events or incidents.
According to Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, “Airports are strongly committed to achieving excellence in customer service, as demonstrated by their participation in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programmes and the energy they put into staff training. All sectors of the industry need to dedicate themselves to providing the best possible customer experience, including in those instances when the passenger’s journey is disrupted, whether due to weather, aircraft mechanical problems or other causes. Our members have further signalled their commitment by determining to develop and implement strategies to safeguard the interests of the travelling public based on agreed upon service quality standards and levels of assistance, across both normal and irregular operations.”
SUPPORTING FACTS
- Passengers have an expectation to receive good levels of service when using airports and that airports view service quality as a core value in airport management.
- The efficient facilitation of passengers through airports is essential particularly since the number of passengers travelling globally is expected to double to 10 Billion per annum by 2029.
- ACI launched the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Programme in 2006 with the aim of enhancing the services provided to passengers at airports and that continuous incremental improvement in passenger satisfaction levels had been observed in each year since 2006.
- The business and operational practices of airlines and other stakeholders are changing and these can have unintended consequences on passenger facilitation and customer satisfaction.
- Particularly during periods of protracted flight disruption, irregular operation or abrupt cessations of service due to bankruptcy, airlines are often unable to make the necessary and appropriate arrangements for the immediate needs and welfare of the passengers or the timely continuation of their journey (often due to a shortage of staff, resources and seats on flights).
- There is a lack of timely and accurate information provided by the airline to its affected passengers, resulting in confusion and anxiety.
- Airports are often left to deal with the problems of stranded and disgruntled passengers.
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About Airports Council International
ACI is the only worldwide association of airports. It is a non-profit organization whose prime purpose is to represent the interests of airports and to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations. ACI has 580 members who operate over 1672 airports in 173 countries and territories.
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Cheryl Marcell
Director, Communications and Events
ACI World
Email: cmarcell@aci.aero