In another major accolade for the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, it has become the first airport in the world to clinch the Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality Awards for both Arrivals and Departures. This comes after Bengaluru was adjudged the ‘Best Regional Airport in India & Central Asia’ by Skytrax in 2017.
“The ACI ASQ Awards reaffirm our commitment to provide an excellent passenger experience at the BLR Airport. BIAL is proud of the fact that ACI has recognised our effort in both segments - Departures and Arrivals,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).
Our airport is on the cusp of tremendous development and we will continue to ensure our passengers have a superlative experience,” he added.
Other than Bengaluru, Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneshwar topped the charts for 2-5 million passenger category while Cochin International Airport came second in the 5-15 million passenger category for ASQ Departure awards.
The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme is an airport passenger service and benchmarking programme for airports across the globe. The ASQ Departures programme measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. These includes five key areas viz. disembarkation, immigration (only for international passengers), baggage reclaim, customs and airport infrastructure.
In a statement, ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said, “The Airport Service Quality Awards celebrate the achievements of airports in delivering the best customer experience and they represent the highest possible accolade for airport operators around the world.”
In July 2018, the Bengaluru Airport had scored the highest rating amongst all participating airports across the world, in the quarterly ACI-ASQ Arrival Survey.
The international airport in Bengaluru was built as a private-public partnership. Private promoters hold 74% (Fairfax 48% and Siemens Projects Ventures 26%) stake in BIAL, while the government holds the remaining 26%-- through Karnataka State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited – 13%, Airport Authority of India – 13%.
Kempegowda International Airport is currently the busiest airport in south India and the third largest in the country.