The world's largest charkha (spinning wheel) at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.
Indore and Ahmedabad airports entered the ACI's Airport Service Quality Awards list for the first time.
Six Indian airports governed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), besides Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi airports won accolades as the Airports Council International (ACI) celebrated its annual Airport Service Quality Awards ceremony Halifax, Canada, on Sept. 12.
The awards ceremony was held during the inaugural ACI Customer Excellence Global Summit where the ASQ program reckoned the top-quality airports according to passengers’ opinions. The ASQ program has been deemed worldwide as the only globally-established bench-marking program measuring passengers’ satisfaction while they are travelling through an airport.
The award-winning Indian airports are Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Cochin and Mumbai, which were recognized for excelling in various categories among 315 airports across Africa, North America, Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific which were a part of the ASQ survey.
Lucknow airport was hailed as the top airport in the “Best Airport by Size” and “Best airport by size and Region” categories for serving two to five million passengers per year in the Asia Pacific region. Ahmedabad airport bagged the international award for being the “Most Improved Airport” in the region by passengers, while Indore airport emerged as the “Best Airport by Region” in handling under two million passengers in the Asia Pacific region. Indore and Ahmedabad won the awards for the first time this year.
Kolkata and Pune secured the third rank in the “Best Airport by Size” category among airports catering to 5-15 million passengers per year while Hyderabad took the first rank. Hyderabad airport was declared the world’s best airport in this category last year as well. Chennai airport was placed as the third best among the top airports worldwide serving 15-25 million passengers per year. Mumbai was named the “Best Airport by Size and Region” in the category of airports catering to over 40 million passengers per year in the Asia Pacific region.
Delhi airport, along with Mumbai, were also recognized as “Best Airport by Size” for catering to over 40 million passengers per year.
“The ASQ Awards ceremony celebrates our industry’s commitment to delivering exceptional customer service to passenger service,” Angela Gittens, Director General of ACI World, said in a statement. “The awards ceremony and the Global Summit are special opportunities for the airport community to network, exchange best practices and celebrate the devotion to our customers,” she added.
“These results confirm that competition is now a fixed feature of the industry, and that airports, regardless of their size, operate in an increasingly commercial and competitive business environment encouraging them to make the passenger experience a top priority,” ACI said in the statement.
Earlier this year, the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi announced launching new additions to facilitate faster services for customers, including 46 new e-visa counters and 14 immigration counters. The airport also edged out New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport to break into the list of top 20 busiest airports last year, as announced earlier by the ACI.