Recent research indicates there is plenty of room to improve
Do decision makers in the airport industry understand why passengers choose one airport over another? It’s a basic enough question after all. Yet, worryingly, a major survey based on interviews with nearly 2,600 passengers in January this year conducted by global loyalty firm ICLP at 35 airports worldwide suggests some airports simply haven’t a clue.
A high 97% of airports believe that proximity to travellers’ home or office underlies their choice of airport, according to ICLP’s data. In fact, only 66% of passengers cite geographical proximity as the prime reason for choosing a particular airport.
Nearly half of passengers say a good range of food and beverage (F&B) outlets influences their decision about which to airport to fly from. Yet airports consistently fail to rank a choice of F&B outlets as one of passengers’ top five priorities. Similarly, only 10% of airports think that passengers would welcome targeted retail and restaurant offers, but 60% of travellers would consider them an important factor in choosing an airport.
This alarming disparity between airports’ passenger deductions and the preferences of passengers is also prevalent in the loyalty category: 40% of passengers state they would be interested in being part of an airport loyalty or reward programme. In contrast, just 7% of airports recognise the importance of passenger loyalty schemes.
