On Monday, I wrote a post about The Daily Beast's take on 27 US airports, the best of which isn't all that great when compared with others on the world stage. The Beast called its post "Airports From Hell." Thanks goplantit.com for calling attention to a Business Week story called. "Why Asia Has the World's Best Airports." It reported on the results of the latest annual Airport Service Quality Survey of some 200,000 international travelers conducted by Geneva-based Airports Council International. The top five are Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong and Halifax. Four in Asia, none in Europe and one in North America."Seoul's Incheon International Airport snagged first place in the ranking for the fourth straight year," wrote Business Week's Moon Ihlwan. "Two years before opening the $5 billion airport in 2001, airport administrators set up a task force that analyzed what some of the world's best airports were doing right. The task force looked at Singapore, Hong Kong, Denver and Atlanta. Then planners set about figuring out how the new Seoul airport could offer services that would outdo those hubs. The airport, which last June completed the $3 billion addition of a passenger terminal and runway, has earmarked $120 million for further upgrades in parking and other amenities this year."
Beyond improvements that run into the millions, Ihlwan wrote, "airports in the U.S. are widely viewed as public facilities, while those in Asia are seen as service-oriented businesses....To attract airlines and travelers, Incheon airport has cut down on waiting times. Administrators reassigned terminals for planes making a brief stop and reprogrammed computerized baggage handling systems. The result: Last year the airport reduced to 45 minutes from 55 minutes the minimum connection time for passengers who are traveling through Seoul to other destinations. The airport authority also spent around $7 million on a new 240-seat lounge, which opened last June for departing passengers and offers free showers, Internet connections and movies on giant-screen TVs."
State-of-the-art technology, efficiency and facilities to make travelers' experiences as seamless and pleasant as possible are the winning combination. The Business Week story and passengers' comments are illuminating. If US airport authorities could put just a fraction of these into practice, fewer American airports would be "from hell." Interestingly, even though Denver ranked far down on The Beast's list, it is one that Seoul officials deemed worth looking at.
Posts
Asian airports are becoming heaven for passengers in contrast to the other airports. The hospitality services provided at these airports are at the top most level. Air travel could be made safety with the assistance of certain website that provides air travel safety tips.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all the airports are been maintained properly and few Asian airports are at top level. This is up to the traveler and many of the travelers say that Private Jet is one the best luxury and satisfactory way of travel.
ReplyDeleteSubalin - That's just dandy for people who can afford it. You fail to mention that your company's private jet charters START at $1,750 PER HOUR. That's way beyond what visitors to this blog can afford -- especially for long-haul flights that take many hours.
ReplyDelete