Came across this article in The Star when in Taiping last Thursday/Friday. Thought it was a Skytrax poll but these guys look more credible
Friday April 4, 2008
More than a place for planes
WHY NOT?
By WONG SAI ***
Modern airports are now becoming the best way to lure travellers, looking more and more like shopping malls than a terminal to load and unload passengers.
IT was Monday morning at the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai, and at its huge ballroom on the third floor over 200 managers of airports from around the world were gathered to talk shop.
The buzzword on everyone’s lips was T5. The conversations were serious ones, and those gathered in small groups around the coffee tables punctuated their discussions with the shaking of heads and grim nods.
What, you may ask, is T5? It is the brand new Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport that was built at an enormous cost of £4.3bil (that’s approximately RM30bil at yesterday’s exchange rate).
Tens of thousands of bags never left the airport along with their owners to various European and American destinations. As of yesterday, they still had a mountain of 15,000 bags to clear and over 50 out of over 300 flights had to be cancelled.
The British flag carrier has so far cancelled over 450 flights from T5 and does not yet know when it will be operating at full capacity.
It was every airline’s and airport operator’s nightmare. You can bet that British Airways, which has exclusive use of T5, will suffer tremendous losses from this disaster.
What went wrong? Simple. The terminal and staff could not cope with the huge number of passengers checking in, and the bags could not be loaded on to the aircraft in time for take-off.
Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world. Pilots do not want to miss their take-off slots and will fly away without the bags as long as their passengers are on board.
If they miss their take-off time they will be pushed to the back of the queue, and this can mean a delay of up to an hour.
T5 is supposed to handle mostly short-haul trips to Europe and an hour’s delay could mean doubling travelling time between London and Paris or Hamburg.
For the airport managers attending the Airport Service Quality and Facilitation Conference in Shanghai, what was happening in T5 sent shivers down their spine as it could easily happen to any of them.
The three-day talk-shop session was organised by Airports Council International (ACI) – the international association for the operators. The conference focussed on improving standards of service in the light of air traffic growing tremendously in the next few years.
The number of global passengers is forecast to increase from 4.5 billion last year to over five billion in 2010 and nine billion in 2025. If these estimates come true then many of the airports in the world will have to build new terminals like T5 to cope with the huge traffic flow.
ACI chairman Jim Cherry, from Montreal airport, in his opening speech aptly pointed out that a surge would affect all aspects of airport service, “not only the facilities for check-in, but also a multitude of passenger services ranging from car parks, to terminal amenities, to retail and food and beverage offerings and baggage handling services.”
Malaysia Airports Bhd managing director Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid just shook his head when asked about the fiasco at Heathrow.
Not surprisingly, there was no one from Heathrow at the conference, where the Airports Services Quality (ASQ) awards were also given out. This is the global standard that every airport benchmarks to.
The ASQ awards are a detailed survey of passengers and the scores are posted up every quarter so that airports around the world know where they stand.
Our KLIA won three awards – the best airport in the world for the 15 milllion to 25 milllion passengers category, the second best airport in Asia and the second best airport in the world.
It was the best performance for our national pride and joy. Incheon Airport of South Korea won the best Asia and World awards.
Bashir, although brimming with pride, was modest about the successes. He is more determined that KLIA, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, win the top prizes next year.
The Incheon bosses are well aware of KLIA's capability. It beat the Malaysian airport to the top prize by just 0.7 points. For the first few months of this year, KLIA was in the lead.
But Bashir and his Korean counterpart are well aware that these world best awards were previously won by the likes of Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, but now they do not even figure in the awards because they have become too big and impersonal.
One airport manager from Europe when asked why Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle had fallen by the way side remarked:
“Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle are about the two worst airports in terms of service to passengers. They have gotten just too big because everyone flies to these airports. Changi in Singapore is suffering the same problem,” he added.
Singapore was either number four or three in most categories in the ASQ awards.
Next year, KLIA will be moving into the 25 million to 40 million category as its passenger load has grown. At the same time, Malaysia Airports will be finalising its plans for its expansion programme.
It will have to build its satellite terminal building B to cater for more airlines that are now flying into KLIA and the permanent low-cost carrier terminal.
Bashir and his managers have to be aware that they are now heading down the route once trodden by Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle and Changi. They must ensure their expansion is not at the expense of good service and their excellent reputation. It can be done. Why not!
Our Deputy Executive Editor Wong Sai ***, who was on hand in Shanghai to watch KLIA get its awards, does not like spending too much time at airports.
More than a place for planes
WHY NOT?
By WONG SAI ***
Modern airports are now becoming the best way to lure travellers, looking more and more like shopping malls than a terminal to load and unload passengers.
IT was Monday morning at the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai, and at its huge ballroom on the third floor over 200 managers of airports from around the world were gathered to talk shop.
The buzzword on everyone’s lips was T5. The conversations were serious ones, and those gathered in small groups around the coffee tables punctuated their discussions with the shaking of heads and grim nods.
What, you may ask, is T5? It is the brand new Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport that was built at an enormous cost of £4.3bil (that’s approximately RM30bil at yesterday’s exchange rate).
Tens of thousands of bags never left the airport along with their owners to various European and American destinations. As of yesterday, they still had a mountain of 15,000 bags to clear and over 50 out of over 300 flights had to be cancelled.
The British flag carrier has so far cancelled over 450 flights from T5 and does not yet know when it will be operating at full capacity.
It was every airline’s and airport operator’s nightmare. You can bet that British Airways, which has exclusive use of T5, will suffer tremendous losses from this disaster.
What went wrong? Simple. The terminal and staff could not cope with the huge number of passengers checking in, and the bags could not be loaded on to the aircraft in time for take-off.
Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world. Pilots do not want to miss their take-off slots and will fly away without the bags as long as their passengers are on board.
If they miss their take-off time they will be pushed to the back of the queue, and this can mean a delay of up to an hour.
T5 is supposed to handle mostly short-haul trips to Europe and an hour’s delay could mean doubling travelling time between London and Paris or Hamburg.
For the airport managers attending the Airport Service Quality and Facilitation Conference in Shanghai, what was happening in T5 sent shivers down their spine as it could easily happen to any of them.
The three-day talk-shop session was organised by Airports Council International (ACI) – the international association for the operators. The conference focussed on improving standards of service in the light of air traffic growing tremendously in the next few years.
The number of global passengers is forecast to increase from 4.5 billion last year to over five billion in 2010 and nine billion in 2025. If these estimates come true then many of the airports in the world will have to build new terminals like T5 to cope with the huge traffic flow.
ACI chairman Jim Cherry, from Montreal airport, in his opening speech aptly pointed out that a surge would affect all aspects of airport service, “not only the facilities for check-in, but also a multitude of passenger services ranging from car parks, to terminal amenities, to retail and food and beverage offerings and baggage handling services.”
Malaysia Airports Bhd managing director Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid just shook his head when asked about the fiasco at Heathrow.
Not surprisingly, there was no one from Heathrow at the conference, where the Airports Services Quality (ASQ) awards were also given out. This is the global standard that every airport benchmarks to.
The ASQ awards are a detailed survey of passengers and the scores are posted up every quarter so that airports around the world know where they stand.
Our KLIA won three awards – the best airport in the world for the 15 milllion to 25 milllion passengers category, the second best airport in Asia and the second best airport in the world.
It was the best performance for our national pride and joy. Incheon Airport of South Korea won the best Asia and World awards.
Bashir, although brimming with pride, was modest about the successes. He is more determined that KLIA, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, win the top prizes next year.
The Incheon bosses are well aware of KLIA's capability. It beat the Malaysian airport to the top prize by just 0.7 points. For the first few months of this year, KLIA was in the lead.
But Bashir and his Korean counterpart are well aware that these world best awards were previously won by the likes of Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, but now they do not even figure in the awards because they have become too big and impersonal.
One airport manager from Europe when asked why Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle had fallen by the way side remarked:
“Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle are about the two worst airports in terms of service to passengers. They have gotten just too big because everyone flies to these airports. Changi in Singapore is suffering the same problem,” he added.
Singapore was either number four or three in most categories in the ASQ awards.
Next year, KLIA will be moving into the 25 million to 40 million category as its passenger load has grown. At the same time, Malaysia Airports will be finalising its plans for its expansion programme.
It will have to build its satellite terminal building B to cater for more airlines that are now flying into KLIA and the permanent low-cost carrier terminal.
Bashir and his managers have to be aware that they are now heading down the route once trodden by Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle and Changi. They must ensure their expansion is not at the expense of good service and their excellent reputation. It can be done. Why not!
Our Deputy Executive Editor Wong Sai ***, who was on hand in Shanghai to watch KLIA get its awards, does not like spending too much time at airports.
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