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Press Releases
01 March 2021

World’s best airports for customer experience revealed

Airport Service Quality awards based on the views of customers in 2020

Revamped awards recognize how airports have responded to COVID-19 concerns

Montreal, 1 March 2021 – Airports Council International (ACI) World has today revealed this year’s Airport Service Quality awards which highlight the world’s best airports as judged by their customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on global passenger traffic in 2020 as well as changing customer perceptions and expectations of the airport experience. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, airports managed to collect ASQ surveys from their customers throughout the year and 108 awards have been won by 89 individual airports around the world.

Based on new hygiene related questions added to the survey questionnaire, ACI has introduced a new award – ‘Best Hygiene Measures by Region’ – of which there are 33 inaugural winners.

This award provided airports with a reliable method of gauging customer response to new health measures and recognizes airports’ success in responding to the intense focus on hygiene. The new category also complements ACI’s Airport Health Accreditation programme, launched last year, which has resulted in more than 275 airports being accredited already.

“ACI’s Airport Service Quality awards represent the highest possible accolade for airport operators around the world,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “This year more than any other, the awards recognize those airports that have listened to their customers and adapted the services and experiences they offer to meet changing needs and expectations under very trying circumstances.

“I am proud of the achievements of all ASQ award winners which shows their focus on delivering excellence in customer experience and setting an example of excellence for their peers. As we come together as an industry to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus on customers that the ASQ programme provides will help guide the way.”

This year, ACI World entered into a long-term partnership with global travel technology company Amadeus to deliver the ASQ Awards.

“We at Amadeus congratulate all the ASQ award winners for their ongoing commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience in the face of adversity caused by COVID-19. Amadeus shares this commitment, which is why we’ve been investing for many years to bring a single, integrated platform for all aspects of passenger services to the industry, incorporating applications, hardware and services.” Amadeus EVP Airport IT Bruno Spada said.

“With a modular cloud platform, airports can better connect to airlines to bring new passenger service innovations like biometrics or contactless to market. They can base operations on a consistent flow of data throughout the entire airport journey, which is the key to delivering a truly smooth experience for passengers. And they can do all this with minimal effort or delay because we’ve taken care of the complexity in the cloud.”

The Airport Service Quality programme is the world’s leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking programme. The ASQ Departures programme measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. More than half of the world’s travellers pass through an ASQ airport.

ACI adapted the rigorous quality control process for the ASQ awards programme to ensure the benchmarking and findings from the ASQ surveys remained of the highest quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes for editors

  1. Learn more about the ACI ASQ Programme which includes a full suite of customer experience solutions, including the ACI employee survey for customer experience, the ASQ arrival surveys, and the new ASQ Commercial Survey. ASQ delivers 640,000 individual surveys per year in 49 languages across 91 countries.
  2. Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports, was founded in 1991 with the objective of fostering cooperation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. In representing the best interests of airports during key phases of policy development, ACI makes a significant contribution toward ensuring a global air transport system that is safe, secure, customer-centric and environmentally sustainable. As of January 2021, ACI serves 701 members, operating 1933 airports in 183 countries.
  3. Travel powers progress. Amadeus powers travel. Amadeus’ solutions connect travellers to the journeys they want through travel agents, search engines, tour operators, airlines, airports, hotels, cars and railways.

We have developed our technology in partnership with the travel industry for over 30 years. We combine a deep understanding of how people travel with the ability to design and deliver the most complex, trusted, critical systems our customers need. We help connect over 1.6 billion people a year to local travel providers in over 190 countries.

We are one company, with a global mindset and a local presence wherever our customers need us.

Our purpose is to shape the future of travel. We are passionate in our pursuit of better technology that makes better journeys.

Amadeus is an IBEX 35 company, listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under AMS.MC. The company is also part of the EuroStoxx50 and has been recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last eight years.

To find out more about Amadeus, visit www.amadeus.com

Media contacts

Anita Berthier
Director, Communications
ACI World
Telephone: +1 514 373 1254
Email: mediarelations@aci.aero

Jennifer Fernandez
Corporate Communications
Amadeus
Telephone: +34 699 854 493
Email: jennifer.fernandez@amadeus.com