Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, run by the GMR-led consortium, has been adjudged world’s number 2 airport among those that handle over 40 million passengers a year by the Airports Council International. Inchon in South Korea is adjudged no: 1.
Delhi's score also increased substantially from 4.96 on a scale of 1 to 5 in 2015 to 4.99 in 2016. Last year, Delhi was no. 1 in a smaller category of airports that handle 25-40 million passengers a year.
The GMR-led consortium that runs the airport claimed in a press note that the airport has recorded substantial improvement after they took over the operations in 2006. From the very low position of no. 101, Dellhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) made rapid progress over the years in enhancing the IGI Airport’s service quality and customer’s experience. In 2011, the airport had achieved the position of world’s number 2, which it retained till 2013. In 2014 it stepped up its position to world’s no. 1 rank in the 25-40 MPPA category and retained the rank in 2015 with score of 4.96.
Commenting on the announcement, I. Prabhakara Rao, CEO, DIAL, said “We are now geared to undertake the expansion works at Delhi Airport. IGIA Master Plan-2016 will further enhance the experience of our passengers and create new benchmark for the aviation community worldwide”.
Rao said DIAL has so far trained 50,000 airport staff in about 3,000 training sessions in various disciplines.
The service, called ASQ (Airport Service Quality) is the only worldwide programme to survey passengers at the airport on their day of travel. Every year, the programme delivers some 6,00,000 individual surveys in 41 languages in 84 countries. It measures passengers’ views of 34 key performance indicators including airport access, check-in, security screening, restrooms, stores and restaurants. Each airport uses the exact same survey, creating an industry database that allows airports to compare themselves to other airports around the world. The ASQ programme also has a feature that facilitates sharing of best practices among airport operators.
