Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA) has won the 2023 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Award for Best Airport under 2 million Passengers in Africa. The combined efforts of Egis and joint venture SEGAP1, together with Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) and airport employees were instrumental in the win.
The ASQ award is based on independent customer experience measurement through surveys at the airport. Travellers rate their satisfaction on the day they travel. It covers 30 performance indicators related to passenger experience like wayfinding, check-in process, shopping offers, etc. At AAKIA, 350 travellers took part in the surveys, through every quarter of 2023.
Zanzibar Airport joined the Airports Council International (ACI) ASQ programme in September 2022 on the initiative of SEGAP Compliance Manager Melody Laurençot to measure and improve passenger satisfaction, business performance, and overall airport service quality. SEGAP currently supports ZAA in the management of AAKIA, under a technical services agreement. The team has implemented a package of measures to enhance passenger experience. A dedicated customer service team has been put in place with a core mission of both conducting passenger surveys and assisting customers within the airport. Part of their role is also to identify and report problems with operations and services inside the terminals, such as cleanliness. In addition, a technical director from SEGAP was appointed in July 2023 to ensure better control of maintenance processes. Another significant change has been the recent opening of new services in Terminal 3, such as duty-free and retail shops and restaurants, under Emirates Leisure Retail.
Airport employees played a key role in the programme, with various KPIs set for their areas of work and the results of the ASQ programme presented to them every quarter. This process made them aware of what passengers were saying and where passengers felt there was room for improvement. The friendliness of staff and cleanliness of T3 are among the areas where the airport scored best in the surveys. Travellers2 also particularly appreciated the border and passport control process, and the ease in both security screening and check-in, highlighting the limited waiting time and courtesy of staff3. The surveys also measure passenger sentiment and its impact, to explore how passengers feel while they wait for their departure flight. Respondents said they felt extremely safe and secure and very relaxed and happy overall about their experience at the airport.
The prize-giving ceremony will take place in September at the 2024 ACI World Customer Experience Summit and Exhibition, in Atlanta (USA).
[1] SEGAP is an Egis joint venture with private equity fund manager AIIM
[2] Passengers going through the airport are predominantly European travellers from France, Italy, and Germany, coming to Zanzibar for leisure and tourism. They represented more than 70% of the total visitors in 2023. Source: 2023 Annual tourism release, Commission for Tourism of Zanzibar and Office of the Chief Government Statistician of Zanzibar.
[3] ASQ Departures, Passenger Satisfaction Report, Zanzibar Airport Performance 2023.
