)
Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has emerged the winner among the world’s best airports, according to a ranking by the Airports Council International (ACI), an association of the world’s airports. IGI won the best airport award for the year 2014, for passenger service under the category of airports handling 25-40 million passengers per annum (mppa).
The airport scored 4.90 on a scale of 5, measured by 300 members of the ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) benchmarking programme. ASQ is considered the key to understanding how to increase passenger satisfaction and improve business performance. The survey, the result of which came on Saturday, covers 34 service areas, including access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage and retail.
The award was presented to IGI at a ceremony of the ACI Asia-Pacific/World Annual General Assembly on April 28 in Jordan.
A “13-member team from Delhi Airport, comprising representatives from DIAL (Delhi International Airport), Delhi Duty Free Services, Airline Operating Committee, Jet Airways and IndiGo Airlines, was present at the ceremony to receive the award,” says a statement on the airport website.
“IGI Airport partners and employees have consistently delivered a memorable and distinct experience to our customers, enabling us to achieve the coveted world number-one position,” I Prabhakara Rao, CEO of DIAL, which manages IGI, was quoted as saying. DIAL is a joint venture between the GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
IGI’s Terminal 3, or T3, is the eighth largest airport terminal in the world. In 2014-15, the airport handled 40 million passengers, an eight per cent increase from 36.88 million the previous year.
According to the statement, DIAL has made “rapid progress in enhancing the service quality at IGI which has resulted in steady improvement in rankings over the past eight years since DIAL took over the operations.” The statement adds that the airport scored 4.90 on the ASQ scale out of 5 points and has been recognised as the world’s best airport in the 25-40 mppa category. ACI has 300 members participating in the ASQ benchmarking programme.
“Airports are more than simply points of departure and arrival. In the fast-changing landscape of worldwide aviation, ASQ is the key to understanding how to increase passenger satisfaction and improve business performance. At the end of the day, good business acumen comes down to a simple equation: Better service, improved traffic and a healthier bottom line,” said Angela Gittens, director-general, ACI World.
