The Pune International Airport has shown an improvement in the global Airport Service Quality (ASQ) rankings, The Indian Express reported. The airport has moved up from the 76th position in the April-June quarter to the 74th position in the last quarter. This comes following a decline earlier this year.
Pune Airport has shown an improvement in passenger satisfaction, with its ASQ rating rising from 4.81 in Q2 to 4.84 in Q3. This improvement comes after the airport had slipped in the global ASQ rankings, moving from 71st position in Q1 to 76th in Q2.
Pune airport ASQ rankings: Improvement in most categories
The survey evaluated 31 categories, with Pune Airport showing improvement in most areas, including ease of access to the airport, seamless navigation within the terminal, and manageable walking distances within the facility.
However, three parameters showed a decline compared to the previous quarter: the value for money of transportation options (including parking facilities), waiting time at border/passport control, and the ease of connecting to other flights.
Commenting on the decline in rankings for the value for money of the selected mode of transport parameter, Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke stated, “We charge only Rs 60 for 30 minutes of parking, compared to other private airports like Delhi and Mumbai, where they charge Rs 250 for half an hour.”
Talking about the waiting time at border/passport control, Dhoke said that the at the airport the passengers usually arrive two hours before their departure time and spend 30 to 45 minutes in the process, whereas other airports ask passengers to arrive four hours before departure.
“According to the service level agreement, it takes around 30 to 45 minutes to thoroughly check the credentials of passengers. If we don’t do that properly, the process of identifying passengers becomes more complicated in the future,” he explained.
The ASQ rating improved by 0.03 between Q2 and Q3, while the difference between the Q3 2024 rating and the MOU target is 0.13.
The MOU target for an excellent rating in 2019-20 was set at 4.68 on a five-point scale. “The world average ASQ rating in this quarter is 4.32, whereas Pune Airport has 4.84, indicating a much better performance than the global average,” Dhoke said.