Airports Council International North America has published its 2017 Guest Experience Management and Passenger Amenities Survey which evaluates guest experience management and customer service best practices.
The report’s figures on airport use of customer service tools reveals that many airports—regardless of size—are focusing on building engagement with customers on social channels. It also identifies room for improvement of customer services through a broader adoption of technology.
Social over CRM
While only 30% of all airports surveyed use a CRM platform, with the majority of those large airports, more than half of all airports in North America respond to passenger issues in real-time on social media channels, with a broader representation of airports in all categories.
Additionally, nearly 60% of all North American airports in all categories use customer feedback from social media to help drive decision-making.
Paul Brugger, founder and CEO of BizTweet, which deployed its first US service at Bradley Airport, believes passenger demand will drive a greater focus on social media engagement. The automated response system his firm deployed at Bradley last December has seen a rapid rate of adoption.
“We have seen a massive uptake particularly at times of disruption, which shows there is passenger-led demand for enhanced real-time communication during these times.”
Though it is a smaller airport, Bradley’s @BDLFlightInfo has out-ranked larger US airports on direct passenger engagement, and also ranked among the top ten airports world-wide, by degree of interaction, during the month of February.
Brugger believes airports need not allocate human staff to their social media channels. While larger airports around the world may employ a dedicated social media team, their response rate—especially during times of disruption—cannot match the speed of automation.
Resources also limit how many channels airports can support.
“The main challenge is being able to support the channel from a resource perspective. “I think the issue is the same in both regions although more acute in the US as they don’t have any dedicated resource for social media.”
While Bradley has deployed its Twitter channel solely as a passenger response system, Brugger has worked with other airports on a blended marketing and customer engagement platform.
“The airport could broadcast from the account too if they so wished. “Some of our clients chose to push offers and/or public service announcements and other purely operational messages. From our perspective the content of the message is up to them, we provide the technology to enable them to do it.”
Websites Rule
The predominant technology channel for airports is still websites, with 60% of all airports using their websites to improve service, while fewer than 30% use a mobile app.
40% of North American airports have digital way-finding and signage, though, proportionally, fewer small airports have adopted these technologies.
While some North American airports have adopted beacon technology for way-finding and queue monitoring, ACI-NA shows that the use of beacons to monitor wait times at security checkpoints is relatively rare. Fewer than 20% of all North American airports employ the technology at this time.
Predictability
SITA expects airports to intensify their focus on smoothing out the wrinkles of travel by applying intelligence to help manage disruptions before they happen. The air travel technology company has projected that 24% of the world’s airports will trial artificial intelligence over the next five years.
In its 'The Future is Predictable' report, SITA says:
“Underpinning everything is passenger behavior and appetite for products and services that will give them the ability to improve their own travel plans. What businesses experience as process exceptions, individuals experience as anxiety. Passengers will prize facilities and services that help them reduce their personal disruption and stress. “This desire for predictability drives passengers to be ultra-organized and enthusiastic consumers of information on-the-go.”
One notable North American airport preparing for this predictable future has been Denver International Airport, which is using business intelligence and data analytics to improve performance, as part of a five-year strategic program.
The airport began its business intelligence program as an enterprise-wide service in 2015, with the implementation of dashboards and self-service tools. Its data analytics include data mining, data analysis and data visualization, as well as data science for advanced analytics.
Senior vice-president of technologies and CIO, Denver International Airport, Robert Kastelitz says in SITA’s report:
“Our aim is to maintain the airport’s momentum and competitive advantage by enabling predictive and optimization capabilities through a smarter business intelligence and analytics infrastructure.“Our performance metrics have contributed greatly to increased customer satisfaction – from a low of 65% to 87% currently. We began an ASQ (Airport Survey Quality) Dashboard to monitor key enterprise KPIs, which also guided us to develop our wifi improvement program, leading to significant customer satisfaction improvements.”
In future, Kastelitz says, Denver will focus on integrating more data sources, including divisional applications, sensors and video, as well as external sources like social media and sentiment analysis.
With this broad-spectrum technology adoption the airport aims to improve operational efficiencies and security, sustainability and asset management, as well as financial performance and, of course, customer service.
Experiential First
The ACI-NA survey of airport amenities also reveals a continued focus on experiential amenities, though three out of the top 10 amenities satisfy passengers’ technology needs.
- ATM services
- Gift shops/news stands
- Airport websites
- Electrical charging stations
- Restaurants and bars
- Lost and found
- Parking/taxi and limousine services
- Free wifi
- Pre-security pet relief facilities
- Food and beverage vending machines
ACI-NA president and CEO Kevin M. Burke says:
"North American airports are continually expanding and enhancing their passenger experience programs and amenities to provide an enjoyable and efficient experience for airport users." "Whether engaging with passengers through an animal therapy program to instill a sense of calm in a busy terminal or providing ample electrical charging stations for mobile devices, airports are committed to not only meeting passengers’ expectations but exceeding them.”
While the focus of North America’s airports will largely continue to be on experiential features at airports, the services most likely to disappear reveal passengers’ greater reliance on mobile communications and cash-free transactions.
A statement from ACI-NA says:
'Over the next three to five years, passengers can expect new and expanded airport amenities and services, including nursing mothers’ rooms and pods, post-security pet relief facilities, children’s play areas, airfield observation areas, and adult changing and washroom facilities as the top-rated amenities likely to appear in North American airport terminals."Airports are beginning to phase out unnecessary, under utilized, or redundant amenities and services. The top three rated amenities likely to be eliminated or replaced in the next three to five years are payphones, banking services, and smoking rooms."
The survey is based on responses by 69 North American airports which account for more than 76 percent of North American passenger traffic.