Putting the Customer First
We aim to be customer-centric in all we do. Providing excellent customer service, appropriate security measures and a pleasant airport experience all contribute to this. Customer First Teams (CFTs) are an important innovation at MAG, providing a channel outside traditional line management for employees to bring their ideas to life and deliver our brand promise and service goals.
Manchester Airport also has one CFT that is made up of predominantly external stakeholders. These are members of our Passenger User Group, who have an interest in the service we provide to our customers. They include representatives from Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the consumer magazine, Which?. In 2009, 14% of employees were involved in CFTs, between them coming up with 57 approved ideas, on which we spent £260,000. These included:
- installing a shelter for bicycles at Bournemouth Airport
- creating a children's play area at Manchester Terminal 2
- providing customer feedback points at East Midlands Airport
- purchasing a deep cleansing system for the terminal furniture in Humberside.
During 2010, we will involve at least 20% of colleagues in CFTs and intend to bring this up to 40% by 2013.
Customer First Teams 2009/10
| Airport | Number of Colleagues Actively Engaged in CFTs | % of Colleagues Actively Engaged in CFTs | Number of Customer First Teams (incl 3rd party teams) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 361 | 14% | 42 |
| Manchester | 234 | 12% | 24 |
| East Midlands | 59 | 23% | 9 |
| Bournemouth | 39 | 28% | 5 |
| Humberside | 29 | 19% | 4 |
We take our responsibilities towards our customers seriously and comply with all relevant legislation on matters such as privacy, data protection, marketing and safety. All our airports have privacy policies on their websites: Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth, Humberside.
Keeping Customers Flying
More than 15cm of snow rapidly blanketed Manchester Airport's 750 hectare site in early January, falling more heavily than forecast and creating some of the most challenging weather conditions in living memory.
Staff from all across the airport – including 200 volunteers who came to help and stayed late – were redeployed to dig out aircraft, and clear taxiways, pathways and car parks in order to keep the airport operational despite the -8ºC temperature. Others went out into the terminals to look after affected passengers, handing out refreshments and keeping people informed.
The teamwork and dedication of staff and partners resulted in some great feedback from our customers who expressed their appreciation of the lengths we went to in order to make their situation bearable and keep delays to a minimum.
Our Fix the Basics programme has also had a positive impact and helped towards an improvement in customer satisfaction scores over the year. At Manchester, for example, we have prioritised those aspects that our customers told us were important to them, including improving airport cleanliness, reducing the length of security queues and improving comfort and seating quality in waiting areas. Priorities at Manchester for the coming year include improving the arrivals process, wi-fi facilities and way-finding.
Awards
In 2009 our airports were recognised with a number of industry awards:
- Manchester Airport was named Best UK Regional Airport in the Globe Travel awards, Best UK Airport in the Business Travel awards and the UK's Favourite Airport for the fifth consecutive year at the Travel Agents' Choice Awards.
- East Midlands Airport was named Star Regional Airport at the Travel Bulletin Star awards, with Bournemouth Airport shortlisted for the same award.
- Manchester also scooped two prestigious titles for customer service at the Star awards organised by Co-operative Travel, and received a top award for its cargo handling performance from Air Cargo World magazine, scoring the highest of any UK airport in all the survey's categories.
Going the Extra Mile
Travelling through airports can be daunting for anyone but for some people with autism the prospect is enough to stop them travelling entirely. At Manchester Airport we were very pleased to be able to launch a free 'Airport Awareness' guide to help children and adults through the experience, from arriving and checking in, to going through security and returning home. It is an innovation that has been warmly welcomed by customers and autism charities alike.
The best way that we can meet and exceed customers' expectations is first of all to recognise where there is a need and second to act on it where we can. That is exactly what Katy Gough of the Manchester Airport Press Office did after having received several requests from carers for airport pictures to help people with autism through the experience of going on a trip.
It might have ended there but Katy recognised that for many children and adults with autism, a picture really can be worth a thousand words, so she approached our customer service team to fund the design and production of a booklet using real images of Manchester Airport.
The result is a free resource available to passengers at all Manchester Airport terminals, via any local autism charity or through schools with special needs units.
The guide has attracted interest in political circles after being covered on BBC Radio 4 and has had many positive comments from customers and others, including this feedback from the National Autistic Society:
"I'd like to say congratulations on such a fantastic resource. I've worked with a lot of parents of people with autism who would find this invaluable and really help them enjoy their holiday. I've got a couple of boxes of the books and am in no doubt that they will be very popular." Julie Butcher, Resource Centre Manager, National Autistic Society.
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ideas proposed by our Customer First Teams were implemented in 2009