March 6, 2006 (Ottawa) – The Ottawa International Airport was honoured today with three awards in the AETRA Airport Customer Satisfaction and Performance program for 2005 at the Airports Council International Airport Service Quality Conference in Dubai, UAE.
Ottawa received the following three Customer Satisfaction awards; 2nd overall for worldwide airports between 0 and 5 million passengers; 2nd overall for all airports in the Americas; and 2nd overall for domestic passenger airports. Participating airports include Sydney, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Athens, Denver, Toronto and Vancouver, to name a few.
AETRA is a joint venture between the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airports Council International (ACI), and is an airport customer satisfaction benchmarking program that provides demographic and travel profiles by comparing airport performance for 31 service items at 65 airports worldwide. Surveys are conducted quarterly and offer important insight into customer satisfaction and loyalty. Ottawa joined the program in the third quarter of 2004.
The awards were welcome news for the Airport Authority. “We’re thrilled by these results, particularly since 2005 was our first full year participating in the program; they speak highly to the commitment of the entire airport community, and the pride that each and every employee takes in our new terminal”, said Paul Benoit, Airport Authority President and CEO.
“One of the Authority’s strategic objectives is to provide exemplary customer service; the AETRA results confirm we’re doing just that”, said Jim Durrell, Chairman of the Board. He added, “The customer wins when we provide excellent service”.
The Airport Authority plans to continue participating in the AETRA program, and looks forward to building on the results from 2005.
OMCIAA operates Ottawa International Airport without government subsidies under a 60-year lease transfer agreement with Transport Canada. The OMCIAA’s mandate is to manage, operate and develop airport facilities and lands in support of the economic growth of the National Capital Region. Its new state-of-the-art passenger terminal building opened for business on October 12, 2003.
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AETRA CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKING PROGRAM
BACKGROUNDER
(AETRA is derived from the Latin word AETHRA, which stands for “clear sky, upper sky”.)
The AETRA Customer Satisfaction and Performance Benchmarking program is offered as a joint venture between the International Air Transport Association and the Airports Council International. There are 65 airports worldwide that subscribe to and participate in the AETRA program.
AETRA is a program that provides traveller demographics and travel profiles and compares airport performance for 31 service items.
The survey is conducted quarterly and offers unparalleled insight into customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The survey sampling plan is created individually for each participating airport and is based on airline share of market, destinations, time of day and market sector (domestic and international) to ensure the sample is fully representative of the individual airport’s traveller profile. 34 of the 65 airports survey both domestic and international, the balance only survey international travellers.
The questionnaire is self administered (the traveller completes the questionnaire not an interviewer)
For Ottawa there are approximately 400 questionnaires/interviews completed during each quarter.
Ottawa participated in its first survey in the third quarter of 2004, and received very favorable feedback. Results for all of 2005, however, were even better than our expectations.
The Ottawa International Airport team is extremely proud to have been awarded second place in three specific categories in 2005:
2nd in customer satisfaction for all enrolled airports of between 0 and 5 million passengers (out of 23 airports);
2nd in customer satisfaction for all enrolled airports in the Americas (out of 16 airports); and
2nd in customer satisfaction for all enrolled airports surveying domestic passengers (out of 34 airports).
Release date:
Monday, March 6, 2006