EVENTS: ACI ASIA-PACIFIC/WORLD ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY
An impressive 264 gateways across the globe are carbon accredited under the scheme, which has become the global standard for airport operators seeking to address their carbon footprint. ACI World director general, Angela Gittens, noted: “The global airport industry is committed to reducing its carbon emissions and, in 2009, the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme was launched in Europe to empower airport operators with a detailed, multi-step path to carbon neutrality. “We are delighted that the programme quickly gathered global momentum, which is a reflection of how airport operators think local and global. Running an airport is a complex business and airport operators are one piece of this puzzle with many stakeholders on the airport site. “Working relationships need to be fostered and maintained and airport operators are addressing their direct carbon emissions, but also engaging partners to address theirs.” The afternoon of Day 1 comprised a debate about customer service innovation called ‘The Customer Experience Revolution’; the launch of two unique programmes designed to help airports promote service excellence and improve the customer experience; and ACI Asia-Pacific’s annual Regional Assembly. Speaking during the customer service debate moderated by Plaza Premium Group’s Mei Mei Song, Sydney Airport’s service strategy and customer experience manager, Claire Donnellan, revealed that feedback from ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) benchmarking programme had helped “drive the changes that passengers were asking for” at her airport. “Customer needs and passenger expectations change over time, meaning something that was a basic [requirement] before, may not be considered so important today,” she commented. “Having a space for customers to break away and relax and recharge is important today as are bathrooms, although whereas years ago a standard bathroom was fine, now people actually want a sense of place experience when they go there.” Fellow panelists in the session included Abu Dhabi International Airport’s Muna Al-Ghanim; Corporacíon Quiport’s Carlos Criado; San Antiono’s Karen Ellis and Airport Authority Hong Kong’s Chapman Fong. The two customer service related programmes launched by ACI World at the event were its new Customer Experience Accreditation programme – which offers a common definition and framework for customer experience management – and the Airport Customer Experience Professional Designation Programme for airport employees.
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Launching both, ACI World’s deputy director general for programmes and services, Antoine Rostworowski, said: “The Customer Experience Accreditation is really a management tool. It’s a gap analysis to assess the level of maturity that your airport has in terms of customer experience management. So, it’s a look from within.” The Airport Customer Experience Professional Designation Programme has been developed for airports subscribing to the new accreditation programme. As part of the accreditation process, each airport must nominate a number of employees to take the course so that they have a clear understanding of customer experience and are competent to lead the airport in terms of customer experience management. The programme can also be completed as a stand-alone programme, and any airport can also designate additional employees to take the course. A busy and exciting day ended with ACI Asia-Pacific’s Regional Assembly followed by a Gala evening on top of one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong – the indoor observation deck on the 100th floor of the impressive International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon to be precise! ACI World’s Annual General Assembly, followed by the now traditional ACI-ICAO AMPAP Graduation Ceremony, ensured an upbeat start to Day 2. They were followed by a keynote address from futurist and CEO of Prescient, Dr Amy Zalman, who then handed the stage over to KMPG’s
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