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GULF AIR has been given top marks for its service and operational performance by an independent passenger survey, despite a difficult year.The majority of the airline's customers choose Gulf Air for its convenient departure and arrival times and value for money, according to the survey by the global airline industry's governing body, International Air Transport Association (IATA).The survey, carried out over a six month period from April to September last year, revealed that the customers' "overall satisfaction" across the airline's several service areas received an average rating of 3.84 on a scale of 1 to 5, compared with 3.76 in the previous year. The "overall satisfaction" rated by Falcon Gold customers touched an average of 4, while the rating by Economy Class passengers was 3.8.The rating for Gulf Air cabin crew remained high with an average of 4.16, once again highlighting the cabin crew's professional service that was rated "excellent" by an IATA survey in 2010.Apart from more than 52 per cent of Falcon Gold class passengers and more than 46 per cent of Economy Class passengers choosing the airline for its convenient flight timings, customers also cited its lower fares as a reason to fly Gulf Air, followed by "value for money".The survey also showed that more than 63 per cent of customers rated the Gulf Air worldwide contact centre response to customers as excellent or very good and 69 per cent rated the web check in facility as excellent or very good, the survey said.On areas such as cabin cleanliness, cabin crew service and response, food and drinks and inflight entertainment, the survey saw significant improvement in 2011 over 2010, with the best area of improvement being 'in-flight entertainment' for which the rating jumped from 2.9 to 3.14."The opinions of our passengers provide a valuable insight allowing us to identify where we excel as well as areas for improvement," said Gulf Air's chief executive officer Samer Majali."The survey results clearly show that we are customer-focused. "We will continue to work to improve every point of contact with our customers - from the first interaction with Gulf Air, whether it's our Worldwide Contact Centre, www.gulfair.com, or airport, boarding, on-board services and baggage claim," he said.The IATA survey assessed passengers' satisfaction on various aspects of their travel experience such as booking tickets, aircraft cleanliness, attitude and friendliness of cabin staff, efficiency of check-in and boarding, grooming and appearance of cabin staff, handling of delays and cancellations, in-flight entertainment selection, and many other factors that affect the overall customer travel experience.