Hyderabad International Airport secure World No.1 position: ACI-ASQ Survey

The Airports Council International (ACI), headquartered at Montreal, Canada, in its official communication has announced and congratulated GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) for Rajiv Gandhi International Airport securing the 1st Position in Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passengers survey in the 5-15 million passengers per annum (MPPA) category for the year 2016.

The ASQ survey statistics shows that Hyderabad Airport has steadily improved its score from 4.4 in 2009 to 4.9 in 2016 (measured on scale of 1 to 5).Hyderabad Airport has also the honour to be the first airport in India to have been awarded by ACI, The Director General’s Roll of Excellence in Airport Service Quality in 2014 for consistently earning the top five ranking in its category in the ASQ for five years in a row.

Speaking on this recognition, GHIAL CEO SGK Kishore said, “We are delighted and honoured to be ranked No. 1 Airport in ACI ASQ survey. We are thankful to our passengers to be part of this journey and helping us in reaching this milestone, yet again. We are also thankful to our stakeholders including Ministry of Civil Aviation, CISF, Airlines, Immigration, Customs for their cooperation in making Hyderabad Airport the very best airport in the world. The immense efforts put in by our partner airlines, concessionaires, housekeeping and other support staff have played a major role in this achievement. We expect similar kind of cooperation to carry forward the laurel.”

Further commenting on the achievement, Kishore said, “While the recognition has definitely made all of us proud, but we have still miles to go. Hyderabad Airport, running in to its 9th year of operations, is designed to cater to 12MPPA. It has witnessed a growth of more than 20% in the last year with a passenger throughput of close to 15MPPA in CY 2016. We soon plan to go for expansion of the airport, where it can enhance its capacity to meet 20 MPPA. As interim measures to manage the current traffic growth, reorientation of various passenger check points within the terminal is being



tried and undertaken. In order to improve passenger processing with the help of innovation, Hyderabad Airport has been the first in India to have implemented end-to-end e-boarding solution. While working towards a future-ready airport, we are also sensitive towards environment and hence 15% of airport’s energy requirement is met by the captive 5MW solar power plant. Our environment sustainable measures have earned us carbon neutrality (Level 3+, neutrality) recognition by ACI. ”

ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said, “We congratulate Hyderabad Airport for dedicating itself to deliver a stellar customer experience. Promoting a culture of continuous service improvement has become a matter of gaining competitive advantage and optimizing non-aeronautical revenue performance. ACI proudly recognizes these accomplishments and we look forward to seeking more effective, efficient and profitable ways of serving the flying public together.”

To cater to the commendably growing passenger traffic, GHIAL has taken various measures at the airport. Some of these measures include reconfiguration of domestic security check area along with infrastructural enhancement; opening of an additional central gate at departure terminal with extra lanes; using domestic baggage belts for international arrivals during the peak hours; utilizing extended plates on both arrivals and departure for smooth passenger movement; express check in for hand baggage passengers along with the pilot self-bag drop center. It is a proud moment for Hyderabad that its airport has won this accolade based on the passengers’ feedback taken under ACI ASQ Programme.

As the industry’s most comprehensive passenger service bench marking tool, the ACI ASQ Survey has reliably captured passengers’ immediate appraisal from check-in through departure at the gate at more than 300 airports worldwide.The ASQ Award Ceremony will be held at the 27th ACI Africa/World Annual General Assembly, Conference & Exhibition in Port Louis, Mauritius, 16-18 October this year.