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Birmingham Airport has invested over £100k in a bespoke customer feedback system which is to be available throughout the site. 

The airport has partnered with realtimeknowledge.com, a company which specialises in operational reporting, to create the system named the ‘Voice of the Customer’. It is aimed at improving and innovating the airport’s customer feedback process, enabling the customer experience team to resolve any trends of issues. Overall, it is expected to highlight problems that need immediate improvement. 

“We’ve been focused more than ever on making improvements to the passenger journey. Ensuring our passengers have the best experience possible is a priority for us – we want passengers to remember Birmingham Airport for all of the right reasons,” said Stuart Haseley-Nejrup, Head of Customer Experience of Birmingham Airport. “The Voice of the Customer system will help us to do just this, allowing us to delve much deeper into feedback, quicker than ever before.”

Feedback gathered through the Voice of the Customer system will be directly sent to the customer experience team who are able to react to passengers concerns and comments immediately. This investment will allow feedback to be submitted through mediums including 59 instant feedback touch screens, 10 QR codes for mobile or tablet devices, or written feedback posted in any of the 10 designated post boxes. Written feedback will be manually entered into the system so it can be analysed with other responses. These feedback points will be located in key passenger touchpoint such as check-in desks, security, departure gates, washrooms, lounges and on-site car parks. 

Since its introduction in January, the system has gathered 47,000 pieces of feedback compared to an estimated 1,000 a year through previous written surveys. Haseley-Nejrup commented, “The uplift in feedback since implementing the system has given us invaluable information to create great experiences for our customers, as well as highlighting any friction points across the customer journey for us to make improvements to.” As the system is live, it enables passengers to react in the moment so areas in the terminal that potentially fail can be attended to faster than it may have before.

Recent improvements supported the airport’s score of 90% through the CAA’s departing passenger survey, as well as other awards on customer service. The airport hopes to use the gathered information to create “a frictionless customer journey, which is easy and accessible for all.”

Houston-based William P. Hobby Airport has become the first in Texas to use facial comparison technology for international arrivals and departures. 

The technology launched at the airport on 19 February 2020 and is set to reduce wait times at security checkpoints.

Upon arrival, an international traveller will pause for a photo at the primary inspection point. CBP’s facial matching technology will then compare this photo with archived images that the traveller previously provided to the government such as passport and visa photos. In the cases where travellers cannot be matched, they will be manually processed by a CBP officer. New photos of US citizens will be deleted within 12 hours; photos of foreign nationals will be stored in a secure DHS system.

Simplified Arrivals is expected to cut the wait times at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by half, whilst aiming to “enhance the travel experience” for the one million international passengers that go through Hobby Airport annually. 

“Hobby Airport has taken a big leap into the future of travel…This is an important step to realise our goal of becoming a 5-star airport,” said Houston Aviation Director, Mario Diaz.

Houston Airports (HAS) are working with CBP and Southwest Airlines, after the success of the biometric exit process was introduced in November 2018. “CBP is committed to working with our partners to ensure that the travel system is secure and efficient,” said Houston Director of Field Operations, Judson W. Murdock II. “The speed, accuracy and reliability of facial comparison technology enable CBP officers to confirm a traveller’s identity within seconds while further enhancing the customer experience.”

Passengers are provided the opportunity to opt out of the biometric process where they will instead be processed manually, consistent to existing requirements for entry to the US. CBP has used facial comparison technology to intercept more than 250 imposters attempting to gain access to the US since September 2018, by using another person’s travel documents. 

Hungarian airline, Wizzair, has launched a new route between Skellefteå in Swedish Lapland and Gdansk, Poland. 

This route is the airline’s only service to the Northern part of Sweden and will operate twice a week, beginning 4 June 2020. At the time of writing, Wizz Air is the only airline to provide this direct route from Gdansk. 

The addition of Skellefteå to the airline’s network will be a gateway to the Swedish Lapland. This connection is expected to benefit the tourism and business communities of the region which is “constantly growing”. 

“Given the wealth of attractions Lapland has to offer and our great fares, we are sure customers will enjoy visiting this beautiful Swedish region,” said Andras Rado, Corporate 

Swedish airport operator, Swedavia, is adopting a strategy for 10 of its airports to handle electric aircraft. A testing venue is planned to be put into operation this autumn at Åre Östersund Airport with the aim of launching the first commercial electrified route by around 2025. 

This project is a part of Swedavia’s ambition to promote the transition to fossil-free domestic domestic air transport in Sweden by 2030 and fossil-free air transport for all flights originating in the country by 2045. The airline has been working to transition to bio jet fuel with the aim that 5% of fuel used to refuel at Swedish airports will be fossil-free by 2025. 

“Bio jet fuel is critical in a short-term perspective for driving the aviation industry’s transformation in the face of climate change. But in the long term, electrification can also play a key role. Swedavia wants to take an active part at an early stage of this development and get an understanding of the conditions needed for electric aviation from an infrastructure perspective,” said Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s President and CEO.

Looking ahead all 10 of Swedavia’s airports will all be developed for handling electric aircraft with Åre Östersund, Umeå Airport and Visby Airport already in the initial stages of developing electric aviation.

Operations for a testing venue are expected to begin in Autumn 2020, flying between Åre Östersund and Røros Airport in Norway. This movement is in collaboration with a number of partners in Sweden and Norway who are within the EU project Green Flyway. Currently, plans for aircraft parking stands, infrastructure for charging stations and the power supply are underway. 

Abrahamsson added: “We believe there is good potential for the first commercial electrified route in Sweden within five years. In the longer term, the electrification of routes can be an important addition to today’s scheduled traffic, primarily domestic flights. But electric air transport can also lead to brand-new routes between regional centres, which would benefit access and regional growth as well as create a whole new business model for air transport.”