CUSTOMER SERVICE
The Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix takes place at the Sepang circuit next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
immigration clearance. At baggage reclaim, volunteers were on hand to help competitors with their bags and equipment. “We provided our guests with smooth and seamless passage
and a great experience at Changi,” says Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s CEO. “We wanted to create a lasting impression of Singapore as the host of the first Youth Olympics, and of Changi as the best airport in the world.” Therein lies the reason why top-class sporting events like
the football and rugby world cups, Olympics and Commonwealth Games are so important for international airports. If they get it right, it puts them in the shop window and earmark them as future hosts for other big events, with the promise of merchandising benefits and other commercial opportunities. If they get it wrong, it’s a PR disaster. Top sporting festivals can be great marketing tools for airports,
such as Kuala Lumpur International (KLIA), which has the Malaysian Grand Prix virtually on its doorstep in Sepang. Close proximity to the airport – the track is built on airport land a
short 10-minute shuttle ride away – was a key consideration when finalising the location one of Formula 1’s newest circuits. (Indeed, airport and race track opened within 12 months of each other.) The F1 showpiece is attended every March by up to 130,000 fans. Such events are a great money-spinner once a year, but they
don’t generate bread-and-butter weekly income, so airports are becoming increasingly involved in sport at a grassroots level by providing facilities which generate extra revenue both from passengers and the local community – particularly important in boosting the ‘airport city’ brand. In the case of Kuala Lumpur, for instance, new golf courses are planned as part of the airport’s four-phase expansion blueprint.
It won’t be the first airport to open a golf course, of course, as
there are literally hundreds scattered across the globe. Abu Dhabi opened its Al Ghazal Golf Club nearly 15 years ago
while thousands of miles west you can stand on the tee of a mature golf course bordering Ohio’s Big Walnut Creek and actually see passengers looking out of the aircraft windows as they come in to land at Port Columbus International Airport. Other airports with golf courses include Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW),
Hong Kong, Melbourne and Shenzhen–Huangtian, whose sea-facing course was designed by Ian Woosnam. Community projects are often financially supported by airports, and in many cases, there is a sports connection. Edinburgh Airport, for example, helped a local bowling society by donating €8,000 towards a new clubhouse at Newbridge, the money coming from the BAA Communities Trust, which supports projects in areas around the airport operator’s UK hubs. While elsewhere in the UK, Horsham Cricket Club, East Grinstead
Town FC, Beare Green Bowls Club and Horley Lawn Tennis Club have all received donations in recent years from the Gatwick Airport Community Trust, ranging from €1,700 to €5,700. So airports’ love affair with sport is by no means restricted to the
blue-chip events. If an airport is a microcosm of human life, it has to reflect that diversity, and sport plays such a huge part in day-to-day life that it is no surprise to find it as much in evidence at airports as it is on our TV screens, in shopping malls and bars. NFL team, The Dallas Cowboys, opened up a 400,00 square foot
merchandising headquarters at DFW in February, incorporating a warehouse, production facilities and Pro Shops. “When we purchased the original building, we never thought we could outgrow it,” admits Bill Priakos, vice-president merchandising
AIRPORT WORLD/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010 85
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