Transport

JKIA, Moi Airport ranked top in Africa on customer service

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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), and Moi International Airport (MIA) have been ranked second and fourth respectively in customer service in Africa by the Airports Council International (ACI).

Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (Diass, Senegal) was ranked the best airport in Africa after demonstrating “significant efforts” in gathering passenger feedback through the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Departures survey, to help them better understand their customers during the pandemic.

Among the top six airports include Kotoka International Airport (Accra, Ghana) which came third while SSR International Airport (Mauritius, Mauritius) and Tunis Carthage Airport (Tunis, Tunisia) came fifth and sixth respectively.

To qualify, an airport member must have collected three or more quarters of customer data. This year, 140 airports have been recognised around the world, under “The Voice of the Customer" survey sponsored by Amadeus, a global travel technology firm.

ACI which was established in 1991 represents airports interests with governments and international organisations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It also develops standards, policies and recommended practices for airports, and provides information and training opportunities to raise standards around the world.

JKIA and MIA in 2019 recorded increasing number of holiday makers with the latter registering the highest number of tourists entry with 8.56 per cent growth. JKIA witnessed a 6.07 percent tourists increase before Covid-19 disruption.

Use of technology has also been cited as one of the major drivers of tourism with the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business report showing that Kenya improved five positions to 56 globally on attractiveness to investors up from 61 in 2018.

JKIA won the 2020 Best Airport by Size and Region in the 5-15 million passenger per year category in Africa while MIA won the 2020 Best Airport by Size and Region under 2 million passengers per year in Africa in the ACI's Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey.

ASQ is the world's leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking programme. The survey captures passengers' experience at all airport contact points at more than 300 airports worldwide.

Writing to the Kenya Aviation Authority (KAA) on the awards, ACI World Director General, Luis Felipe de Oliveira congratulated the authority for its efforts in improving customer experience.

"I congratulate KAA on the success in the Airport Service Quality Awards which represents the highest possible accolade for airport operators around the world on customer experience. During this most difficult and challenging of years, customers have spoken and recognized the successful efforts of the team at KAA in providing a superior customer experience under trying circumstances," said Mr Oliveira.

KAA's acting managing director Alex Gitari noted that the recognition was timely, coming at a time when JKIA and MIA are undergoing major rehabilitation works set to further improve on customer experience.

"Winning these awards is a re-affirmation of our commitment to providing our customers with a stress-free travel experience. We are truly excited and encouraged by these prestigious awards which herald a new horizon in our customer satisfaction journey across our airports," said Mr Gitari.

The ACI Awards for JKIA and MIA come soon after the recent recognition of the two airports under ACI World's Voice of Customer Initiative.