Sydney named best airport in Australia/Pacific by Skytrax
Sydney Airport has been named the best airport in the Australia/Pacific
region by the Skytrax passenger survey.
The Skytrax survey measures more than 40 aspects of passenger satisfaction for airport product and service standards to evaluate the typical airport experience. The survey assesses front-line customer service and general airport customer facilities. The award is based on a survey conducted by the London-based research organization, Skytrax, between Aug-06 and Jul-07.
CEO of Sydney Airport, Russell Balding, has welcomed the award saying: "This is great recognition for the team at Sydney Airport, and it shows that the money and effort that is being invested in upgrading our facilities and improving customer service is being appreciated by travellers.
"Over the next ten years we will be investing AUD1.5 billion of growth capital expenditure. This is in addition to the total capital expenditure of AUD685 that has already been made in the four previous financial years," Mr Balding said.
Some of the key projects include:
- Ready for the A380: Sydney Airport has invested more than AUD100 million to be ready for the next generation of aircraft. The main runway and taxiways have been strengthened and widened and new aerobridges built to accommodate these new generation aircraft. The first passenger flight of the A380 will be made between Singapore and Sydney later this year. This will be a milestone in global aviation;
- A major expansion and refurbishment of the T1 International Terminal: More than AUD150 million will be spent on the expansion - which will be the first significant upgrade of T1's facilities since the 2000 Olympics;
- Construction of a AUD65 million eight storey car park for Sydney Airport's International Terminal (T1). The car park will provide around 3,000 undercover parking spaces when it is completed late next year. The International Terminal is currently served by about 1,800 parking spaces - none of which are undercover;
- The AUD20 million redevelopment of T2, with a new food court and expanded retail component, was completed in Apr-07. The feedback from travellers has been extremely positive. A survey of passengers found that 83% were satisfied with the range of food and beverage outlets, an increase of 18 percentage points on last year, while 89% were satisfied with the overall appearance & cleanliness of T2 - up 9 percentage points on last year;
- There is now 100% checked bag screening at the T2 Terminal. The new screening system required an AUD37 million investment and allows x-ray scanning of check-in and transfer passenger baggage to identify and prevent explosives from being loaded into the hold of planes.