Press Release

Gatwick teams qualified in customer service excellence

8 April 2011

  •  750 airport security staff awarded national qualification in ‘Delivering Excellent Customer Service’
  • Gatwick pledges to treat every passenger as its guest and offer the best airport experience
  • Greater focus on customer service saw passenger compliments increase by 94% in 2010

Half of Gatwick Airport’s 1,500 front-line staff have achieved a City & Guild Level 2 Award in ‘Delivering Excellent Customer Service’.  The remaining 750 staff will complete their training by October this year, helping to put Gatwick at the top of the league when it comes to customer service. 

Tourism South East Training and Skills has worked closely with Gatwick to design a tailored training programme to help staff understand how they can do their bit to drive improvements in customer-service for the 32 million passengers who travel through the airport each year.

Stewart Wingate, CEO of Gatwick Airport, said: “Our priority under new ownership is to deliver the best end-to-end passenger experience through the airport and make Gatwick London's airport of choice.  Passengers will judge their experience of Gatwick not just on the quality of the airport facilities but also on the friendliness and helpfulness of our staff.  That is why we are investing in the training and development of our people at the same time as we invest to improve the physical environment of the airport.  

"And I am delighted that, half way through the training programme, we are already seeing positive results with passenger compliments up by 94% and complaints down by 15% in 2010 compared to 2009.  We also seem to be employing the brainy bunch with a pass rate of 98% compared to the national average of 78%."

Commenting on the success of the programme, John Williams, Chairman of Tourism South East said: “We are delighted with the results achieved at Gatwick Airport. The airport will have a key role to play in welcoming people from all over the world when they come to attend the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year and this programme will have a positive impact.”

The training forms part of Tourism South East’s ‘Welcome Host Gold Programme’ - a programme launched to improve the levels of customer services across the South East and  funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). It is established as one of the leading customer service training courses in the UK, designed for staff in tourism, hospitality, leisure, transport and travel businesses.

Pam Alexander, Chief Executive of SEEDA said: “SEEDA is very pleased to be funding the Welcome Host Gold programme and we are very encouraged with the results being achieved at Gatwick and other key gateways and tourism destinations across the South East. By investing in excellent customer service we will help businesses to maximise the impact of hosting the London 2012 Games and leave the South East with a lasting economic tourism benefit.”   

Media enquiries to:

Gatwick Airport press office
Tel: + 44 (0) 1293 505000
Email: gatwickmedia@gatwickairport.com

 

 

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