1 March 2016 - Airports Company South Africa's airports have once again been ranked as some of the best in Africa in the annual Airports Council International's (ACI) 2015 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards.
Upington Airport achieved top honours with 1st place in the Best Airport by Region – Africa (under 2 million passengers per year) category. Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport tied for 2nd place in the category, Best Airport by Region – Africa for those airports handling over 2 million passengers per year. OR Tambo International Airport was ranked third.
The ASQ Awards are based on over 550,000 in-depth passenger surveys at over 300 airports across more than 80 countries worldwide during the course of last year. The 2015 results represent the world's best-in-class airports regarding improvements in the customer experience, appraised by passengers while they are travelling so the experience is fresh in their minds.
The ASQ Survey covers 34 key service areas and includes 8 major categories such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage and retail to name just some. All participating airports use the same survey questions, creating an industry standard set of responses where they can track and analyse their performance, as well as benchmark results against other airports across the globe.
Airport Company South Africa's CEO, Bongani Maseko said the awards were recognition of the commitment by the company's staff to ensure they constantly provide the best possible levels of service to the many passengers who use their airports.
"Every day we deal with thousands of passengers, customers and airline staff and it is our job to ensure that they leave our airports with a positive experience. These awards are testimony to the passion of our staff to delivering service excellence and their unwavering commitment and contribution in serving our customers with pride."
Maseko said Airports Company South Africa is constantly looking at new ways to enhance the quality of its service and bringing new innovations to the market to improve passengers' experiences of its nine airports.
"One of the key innovations we recently introduced to passengers was the launch of the Airports Application (Airports App). The system was designed and developed in response to passengers' need for a convenient and unrestricted means of connecting to the information they require. With the introduction of the Airports App, we intend to remain relevant and accessible as we seek to continue making improvements to our passengers' service offering. Indeed, we are constantly looking for new ways to ensure we take some of the most innovative technologies available globally and implement them within our airports to become the standard-bearer for Africa."
Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World said: "Airports have evolved into complex, customer-focused businesses in their own right that in many cases are in competition with each other for passenger traffic. From duty free and restaurants to ambience, cleanliness, courtesy of staff, amenities, efficiency and more, air travellers are expecting big things from the airports through which they travel. More than anything, ASQ is a way for participants to measure the extent to which they deliver on these expectations."
Best Airport by Region (over 2 million passengers per year) – Africa
First place Mauritius | Second place (tie) Cape Town Durban | Third place Johannesburg |
Best Airport by Region (under 2 million passengers per year)
Africa Upington | Europe Skopje |
North America Portland | Latin America-Caribbean Culiacan |