MIA plc places 4th best airport in Europe - 2/19/2010
The Airport Council International has issued the results of its Airport Service Quality Survey 2009 which benchmarks the Global Airport Industry.
Malta International Airport plc has been classified overall as the 4th best Airport in Europe. It is preceeded by airports of the calibre of Keflavik (Iceland), Zurich and Porto. Malta International Airport has also been classified as the 3rd best in Europe for its shopping facilities. This result is evidently attributable to the recent improvements which were unveiled at MIA in 2009 most notably the expansion of the retail area with its innovative concept of a virtual walk-through shopping mall.
MIA also fared very well on other scores such as the availability of parking facilities and its related value for money whereby MIA placed fifth in Europe. Moreover good results were notably achieved for the availability of banking facilities and Internet / Wi-Fi access whereby MIA also placed fourth in Europe.
ACI Director General Angela Gittens commented, "2009 was a tough year for airports worldwide. Traffic numbers fell while competition increased. For airports, it was a year of balancing tight budgets with high customer expectations for service excellence. The results of the year-long ASQ passenger survey help identify the leaders that meet the challenge and demonstrate that airports have continued to invest and focus on customer service despite falling traffic numbers."
The Airport Service Quality Survey has won the industry recognition as a world class benchmarking programme and has grown steadily over the past four years. It currently comprises 140 participating airports. In 2009 over 275,000 passengers were surveyed worldwide. Passengers indicate their satisfaction with the airport experience from the time of arrival at the airport through to the moment of departure at the gate. To ensure that results reflect customer perceptions during all peaks and troughs in traffic flow, the survey is carried out following a rigorous set of programme requirements representative of a diversified passenger mix, at all times of day and during all travel seasons of the year.