AIRPORT REPORT: HELSINKI
Quality hunter
Steven Thompson discovers that communicating with customers is key for Helsinki Airport as it aims to enhance its facilities and increase its appeal.
Quality is an important word at Helsinki Airport. Whether you are talking about the Finnish gateway’ s approach to social media, customer service or passenger comfort, you will keep coming across it.
And while the strategy has yet to pay noticeable dividends in terms of traffic – the airport saw a slight decline in passenger throughput in 2012 – operator Finavia is confident that it will pay off long-term.
When it comes to customer service, the 2011 launch of its Quality Hunters programme is, arguably, Finavia’ s best example of thinking outside the box.
Jointly launched with Finnair, the groundbreaking initiative saw a group of passengers report back on some of the most innovative ideas they witnessed on their travels to 40 airports in seven weeks.
Using social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, and through blogs and YouTube, Quality Hunters snowballed into a near global phenomenon.
It is estimated that the online community, which comes up with passenger-friendly suggestions for the airport and airline, has a reach of nearly 10 million people.
Such has been the success of the scheme that feedback from followers has persuaded the gateway to open a free 24-hour art gallery and a book-swap station, in addition to shortlisting a host of other ideas for possible consideration in the future.
The ideas wish-list includes the proposed introduction of an airport casino, hostel, Finnish / Asian fusion kitchen, the strategic theming of gates and bringing Finnish nature to the airport.
It is this dedication to the passenger, and this willingness to embrace social media and online communication – coupled with Helsinki’ s location as a springboard between Asia and Europe – that leads airport CEO, Kari Savolainen, to believe that the airport is on the right track.
“ As you know, flying is not so fancy these days, because airlines are competing on price, so service suffers when the focus is on cutting costs, which means the nice part of flying is more and more the airport,” he says.
“ As a result, we have to continue improving our offering. Quality Hunters is one good example of how we do this and it is something we have continued. In today’ s highly competitive world, we have to utilise social media and open our services earlier. Before the trip, passengers should have information on what is the best way to spend their time at the airport.
“ What are the customers’ needs? How can we improve the customer experience? It is a big issue because there is not a standard or typical airport passenger and there is no one single solution to satisfying people.”
While Helsinki has yet to see traffic soar as a consequence of its efforts, the same cannot be said of its passenger satisfaction levels, as the gateway’ s Airport Service Quality( ASQ) score jumped from 3.92 to 4.02( on a scale of one to five) in 2012.
According to the results, which saw 1,400 travellers polled, the airport has improved its services in almost all of the topics covered in the survey.
In 2012, passengers were happier than ever before with queuing times, Wi-Fi, and the politeness and helpful attitude of the airport’ s security staff.
Other strengths noted were the ease of switching planes, the well-functioning border control procedures, the feeling of security, and the ease of moving around at the airport.
“ We have worked hard to make the airport an even smoother hub,” admits airport director, Ville Haapasaari.“ The results show we have performed very well indeed. However, the airport will never be perfect, which means we will continue to work hard for a smooth and comfortable passenger experience.”
On that note, Helsinki continues to make changes in anticipation of increased passenger numbers. Terminal 2 underwent an expansion and revamp in 2011, and last year the gateway invested € 1 million on new
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AIRPORT WORLD / APRIL-MAY 2013