 Passenger
Profile
THE Airport targets the business travel market offering
a good quality Business Class product for all passengers.
That the Airport is successful in reaching its target
market is clearly demonstrated by recent
figures which show that 64% of departing passengers
at London City are travelling on business with nearly 60% in Banking and Finance and other business services. A very high proportion
of passengers are in socio-economic groups A, B and C1.The average salary
among UK passengers was £85,834 - the highest figure among the London airports. Some two thirds of passengers are male.More than three quarters of the Airport's passenger are aged between 25 and 54.
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Passenger Services
There is a good range of high quality services available
for passengers. These are described in detail on the Airport’s
website - click the icon to the right for details. In January
2004, at the 10th Business Travel Awards in London, the Airport reclaimed
the title of "Best Business Terminal". This is the
sixth time since 1995 that the Airport has won this award
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Time is of the Essence
Much of the Airport’s success can be attributed
to the fact that its customers find flying out of London City saves
them valuable time. In order to sustain this the Airport:
- tries to maintain straight lines in the Terminal so that it is
easy to pass through quickly;
- offers public transport access and car
parks very close to the terminal;
-
is fortunate to have it's own DLR station built as part of the Terminal. The trains offer quick access to the the Tube network at Canning Twon and to the City and Canary Wharf
-
delivers passenger baggage into the arrivals hall within 10 minutes
of arrival and often much faster than this.
-
maintains a close liaison with the taxi trade
by employing a licensed taxi-cab driver as a taxi co-ordinator,
to ensure that taxis are always available and that the Airport
understands the drivers' needs.
- monitors busy periods carefully to ensure that passengers do not
have to queue unnecessarily.
At the same time the Airport works hard to keep the place looking
clean and tidy especially in vital areas like toilets.  The Airport's departure lounge is being reconfigured to incorporate some 250 additional passenger seats, an enhanced retail offering with WH Smith and Nuance, and a new lounge featuring high-speed internet points and live sports screens. Complimentary wireless internet access will be available for all passengers. These new airside additions to the departure lounge are due to open in early May 2008.
Soon passengers will be able to check in at the newly installed SITA AirportConnect CUSS (Common User Self Service) check-in kiosks. From early May 2008, each of the 12 kiosks will allow passengers to check themselves onto for flights with airlines including VLM, KLM and Swiss.
According to ukairportdelays.co.uk, a web site set up by leading travel company Travel Counsellors, passengers at London City Airport experience the shortest delays. According to an April 2007 airport press release "the convenient layout of the terminal combined with the introduction of additional security lanes in 2007 ensure that security waiting times are shorter than any other commercial airport in the United Kingdom. Inbound passengers arriving at London City Airport also benefit from convenient access to surface transport shortly after landing, with an average time of five minutes taken from the steps of the aircraft to the Docklands Light Railway platform or Taxi ranks".
The airlines are customers too, not just in providing
high quality services for their passengers but also through the provision
of a ground handling service for their aircraft. Again, time is a
key factor. The Airport is in the process of agreeing Service Level
Agreements (SLAs) with each airline which spell out what the Airport
has to do, to what standard and for what % of occasions in order to
meet the standard. Top of Page
Monitoring
Through its Customer
Services team, and through its various supervisors and
managers as they move about the building, the Airport monitors constantly
its passenger services and its standards of customer care. The Managing
Director takes a personal interest and has a keen eye for detail!
The Airport also monitors its performance through comment cards filled
in by passengers and also through the comments and suggestions it
receives. The Airport replies to all written
comments and suggestions for improvement. It also, from
time to time, carries out Market Research to find out what its customers
think of the service.
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Voluntary Commitments on Air Passenger Service
London City Airport is one of 22 UK airports which
have signed up to these Commitments, which were launched in 2002 under
the auspices of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) in recognition
that air passengers’ expectations have broadened in recent years.
In the UK the monitoring of the Airport Commitments
is the responsiblity of the Department for Transport. In 2003
they did this on the basis of the consumer reports which signatory
airports are expected to produce at least once a year. In order to
build in a measure of independent validation, the Airport Consultative
Committee for each airport was given an opportunity to comment on
the document before it was sent to the Department. In preparation
for this the Airport in April 2003 briefed the committee on the key
points. Click below to see:
In November 2003 the Department published its first
annual report on the implementation of these Commitments:
On 2nd February 2004 the Department said that in
the UK they had found that the airport authorities which had signed
up to the Commitments were generally meeting the undertakings, often
going much further, and in the relatively few cases where there were
shortcomings the airports concerned were working hard on remedies.
They were particularly pleased to note the interest and engagement
of the airports’ Consultative Committees, and regard the Commitments
as a helpful benchmark against which airports and their Consultative
Committees can continue to assess performance. Against this background
they had taken the view that the Department should now cease active
monitoring, although they would be grateful to continue to receive
copies of the passenger service reports required under Commitment
No. 11. They would not, however, use these to compile progress reports,
nor to pass on information about individual operators.
At its April 2004 meeting the Consultative Committee
received the Airport's 2004 report:
The Committee has received no reports since 2004. Top of Page
 Passengers
with Disabilities
London City Airport is generally very accessible
for people with disabilities - visit the Airport's
website for details.
On 1st August 2004 the Airport took over from the
airlines the running of the contract for the handling of people with
reduced mobility (PRMs). From that date the service has been operated
on a different basis with the contractor providing only the personnel
leaving the Airport to provide the equipment. The aim is to provide
a seamless service from arrival at the Airport through to departure
and vice versa. At its July 2004 meeting the Committee was told that
call points would be installed and there would be improved information
on the Airport’s website. The cost of the service is re-charged
to the airlines on a pro-rata basis.
The aim is to operate the service in line with the
Guidelines adopted in October 2006 by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).
These are a key ingredient in
EU Regulation (EC) 1107/2006
on
air travel for PRMs. [More Information on the EU Regulation].
These take effect on 26 July 2008, except Articles 3 and 4, which took effect on 26 July 2007 - Article 3 makes it illegal to refuse carriage on grounds of disability except on the grounds specified in Article 4.
The service also needs to conform to the voluntary
code of practice Access
to Air Travel for Disabled People issued by the Government
in March 2003. This contains recommendations for the industry
on meeting the needs of disabled people when booking their flight,
travelling to the airport, using facilities within the terminal building
and aircraft etc.The Code is currently being revised to take account of EU Regulation (EC) 1107/2006 [More Information]. Along with the industry Code is a guide for disabled passengers
produced by the Government's advisers,
the Disabled
Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC).
 **This
file is in .pdf format and to view it you will need an Acrobat Reader.
This can be obtained free of charge by clicking the "Get Acrobat
Reader" icon opposite
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