KLIA Bags Third Airport Service Quality Award
Posted on: Friday, 16 May 2008, 00:00 CDT
By Kamarul Yunus
THE KL International Airport (KLIA) recently scored a hat-trick as the world's best airport in the 15 million-25 million passengers per annum category, its third win since 2005.
But the airport operator will find it a challenge to repeat the feat in this year's Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards, because KLIA will be making its debut in the 25 million-40 million passenger per annum category.
The ASQ Awards programme is an annual recognition given to airport operators based on a monthly survey conducted by the Airport Council International, the sole worldwide association of airports.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) managing director Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad expects to see stiff competition in the race to become the world's best airport this year.
He said KLIA's rivals in the category include Singapore's Changi Airport, Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok International Airport, and South Korea's Incheon Airport.
"We have won it in the 15 million-25 million passengers per annum category for the last three years. This year we go into the big league, in division one," he told Malaysian journalists covering the presentation of the ASQ Awards in Shanghai recently.
Apart from winning the 15 million-25 million passengers per annum category, KLIA was ranked second both for the Best Airport worldwide and for the Asia-Pacific region.
Incheon Airport edged KLIA by a mere 0.08 point. Overall, KLIA scored an average of 4.70 points.
"Incheon will be the benchmark for us to take KLIA to a better position for this year's award. Incheon has always been in the forefront in the last three years, while for the second, third and fourth has always been tossed around among Changi, Hong Kong and KLIA.
"At one stage, Hong Kong was number two, we were third and Singapore fourth. Now, we are second, Singapore third and Hong Kong fourth."
On areas that MAHB needs to give immediate attention to so that KLIA would be able to improve its position, Bashir said KLIA has done well in almost every area but needs to work harder as its South Korean counterpart as well as other airports such as Changi and Hong Kong are also doing their best to improve their services.
(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: New Straits Times
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