SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY
offer customer service assistance throughout the terminal. The gateway is also proud of its Logan Airport Medical Patient
Assistance Programme. The partnership, between Massport and Boston Healthcare International – a consortium of the area’s leading hospitals – offers a prearranged personalised meet and greet service for those passengers who come to Boston for medical assistance. Massport recently launched a brand-new website –
massport.com –
which features interactive maps and wayfi nding, brings fl ight information onto the home page, and offers users a wealth of information about Boston Logan International Airport. In addition to the interactive maps of each terminal, the new website features a
GetUthere application, which provides information in 50 different languages about the different modes of ground transportation available at the airport. The choices range from the Logan Express bus and taxis to water shuttles. And today, hundreds of thousands of travellers have discovered a great
way to fi nd their way around Logan by using the Airport Wayfi nder on Massport’s website. Those who click the ‘Find Your Way’ icon can access a series of
31 movies in fi ve languages covering eight categories that include the airport roadway system, parking, terminal locations, and the international arrival process. ‘Driving to and from Logan’, to be released later this year, will depict real life terminal roadway footage and directions. Brad Martin, Aviation Customer Service’s deputy director and his staff
have led Massport’s efforts to develop the Wayfi nder programme. Indeed, according to Brad, “customer service at Logan Airport starts before travellers ever reach the airport.”
Miami International Airport (MIA) Like the airports already featured in this article, Miami International Airport is not new to wowing passengers. In fact, in 2007, MIA was the fi rst airport to engage the Disney Institute to train all mid and top-level management employees as well as all of its frontline employees. That was the beginning of a cultural shift at MIA led by MIA’s director,
Jose Abreu, who has made customer service one of his top initiatives. In 2009, MIA deployed bright, fun, eye-catching uniforms adapted from an original painting by Romero Britto, which was commissioned by the city’s tourism bureau.
56 AIRPORT WORLD/AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2010
This year Miami International Airport launched its newest
customer service training initiative – ‘Miami Begins with MIA’. The initiative requiring all 35,000 employees employed at the airport to complete mandatory training on the principles of hospitality and customer service. MIA’s newest training initiative is part of a $6.2 billion expansion
that includes new terminals and other infrastructure. “The gleaming new facilities are impressive,” says Dickie Davis, the airport’s director for terminal operations and customer service, but equally critical are efforts to boost service for air travellers. The mandatory training is part of the renewal process for airport ID
badges, which are required to work at the airport and expire every two years. The customer service training is in addition to security and other required training for airport employees. The course takes an hour to complete, is taught on-site by
instructors from The Center for Service Excellence at Miami-Dade College, and teaches airport employees the linkages between airport jobs and Miami’s tourist-driven economy. And MIA’s efforts appear to be paying off as customer service scores
among the airport’s departing passengers are once again on the rise this year. Not only does MIA have impressive new terminal facilities, but its ratings continue to improve. Dickie sums up the importance of the attitude and behaviour of
airport staff on the entire airport experience when she says, “People might walk through our new facilities and remark how beautiful they are, but what they’ll really remember is how they were treated.” Kudos to the airport community at each of these gateways for
recognising the importance of working together to achieve service excellence on a consistent basis. They are wowing more and more customers each and every day. Where were you when you were last ‘wowed’ by an airport?
About the author Joanne Paternoster is a customer service consultant specialising in the unique challenges confronted by the aviation industry. She can be reached at jpaternoster@butterfl
y-consulting.com.
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