Cochin, Kannur airports top in passenger experience

Although customer experience is vital to successful airport operations, passenger satisfaction with the airport experience at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport is relatively low when compared with two other public-private partnership-run airports in Kerala and other PPP-run airports across the country, including six privatised airports.

Passenger satisfaction is measured through the airport service quality survey conducted by the Airport Council International, an international body of airports, which has global benchmarking to assess the satisfaction of passengers.

Passenger satisfaction is mainly surveyed by assessing airport experience, such as ease of navigation, check-in procedures, shopping, dining offerings, airport environment, general cleanliness, and other amenities

On a five-point scale, the average score obtained by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports was 4.81 and the private-operated airports 4.96 in 2024. Among the 13 private-operated airports, Thiruvananthapuram ranks lowest with 4.82 points.

While the Cochin and Kannur airports topped the list in Kerala with five points each, the Calicut International Airport, Karipur, an AAI-run airport, had a score of 4.82, the same as Thiruvananthapuram airport. The ratings reveal that the Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut airports have a lot to do to enhance passenger experience.

Interestingly, Thiruvananthapuram is one of the two costliest airports in the country charging the highest user development fee on passengers for recouping the investment made for development, maintenance, and operation of facilities.

The Adani-controlled Thiruvananthapuram international airport charged the highest cumulative user development fee of ₹3,300 on both embarking and disembarking domestic and international passengers.

In the case of embarking passengers, Kannur was the costliest airport in the country, charging ₹1,680 on international passengers and ₹750 on domestic passengers, as per the rates in 2024.

Speaking to The Hindu, an officer at the Thiruvananthapuram airport said, “It’s true that the airport still has room for improvement, and we are working on it. In the first two quarters of the present calendar year, we have improved the rating to 4.89 and 4.92 respectively. We hope to achieve an ambitious target of 4.95 by the end of the year.”

“To achieve this, we have opened more washrooms in the airport and provided enough seats for passengers in the lobby and opened lounges in domestic and international terminals,” he said.