On March 29-30, the Third China Airport Service Conference 2018 was held in Beijing, which was jointly sponsored by China Civil Airports Association, China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology, and CAAC News and organized by Beijing Capital International Airport Co., ltd, with China Air Transport Association as the special supporting unit. CAAC Deputy Administrator Dong Zhiyi attended the conference and delivered a speech. The conference, with the theme of “new era, new route and new experience”, officially released the Report on Service Quality Evaluation of Civil Airports 2017 and the evaluation results. Seven airports including Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport, Yinchuan Hedong Airport, etc. were honored as the Excellent Chinese Civil Airports in Service Quality of Year 2017.
In 2017, CAAC issued the Index System for Chinese Civil Airport Service Quality Evaluation as an industrial standard. The standard, which covers 43 major items and 434 sub-items about airport service quality evaluation, for the first time holistically specified the index, means and rules for service quality evaluation of Chinese civil airports. In 2017, evaluations were carried out at 21 airports with a passenger throughput between 2 to 10 million and four randomly-selected airports with a passenger throughput below 1 million. The overall score of service quality of the 21 evaluated airports was 82.2.
Dong Zhiyi said in his speech that an airport is not only a location or a building, but also a name card and cultural symbol for a city, which bears the passengers’ dreams and yearning for better flights and lives. In 2017, 11 airports were newly built and put into operation, making the total number of airports in China reach 229; the total passenger throughput of nation-wide airports added up to 1.148 billion, with an year-on-year growth of 12.9%; the total number of airports with a passenger throughput above 10 million reached 32; the green channel for servicemen was opened at 184 airports; nursing rooms were set up at 222 airports; traffic volumes, operation efficiency and service quality of airports had been significantly improved.
During the conference, the First Roundtable Dialogue between Airports and Airlines was jointly hosted by China Civil Airports Association and CATA. Representatives from 14 airlines including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, etc. and 14 domestic airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. made detailed discussions on how to make concerted efforts to improve passenger service for delayed flights, break information barriers, realize inter-connection, and enhance automation of ground service. In November 2017, China Civil Airports Association and China Air Transport Association signed a cooperation framework agreement. The two parties agreed to strengthen collaboration in multiple aspects, implement measures such as holding roundtable conferences between airports and airlines, and play an active role in the high-quality development of civil aviation. From this year on, CATA will offer assistance in airport service quality evaluation, focus on the appraisal for airlines, and moderately revise relevant evaluation standards and procedures.
Airports Council International (ACI) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued reports on the trends of global civil aviation industry development at the conference. Besides, representatives from Finnish airports, Sydney Airport, Narita International Airport, Kunming Airport, Chongqing Airport and Yinchuan Airport shared their success stories.
