IATA customer satisfaction survey rates Gulf Air Cabin crew ‘excellent’ for second consecutive year

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has announced the results of its 2010 customer satisfaction survey, which saw the airline’s cabin crew rated as “excellent” for the second consecutive year. The independent survey, carried out by the global airline industry’s governing body IATA, covered close to 20,000 passengers over a one year period.  

The 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.

Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Samer Majali commented, “The 2010 results are encouraging and a reflection of the host of improvements that we made last year both operationally and in terms of our fleet. Most significantly our on-time performance improved by 7% from 65% to 72% and our fleet became one of the youngest in the region with the arrival of 10 new aircraft and the phasing out of 10 older planes. Currently 40% of our fleet is brand new with an average age of 6.4 years.”  

Gulf Air’s overall satisfaction rating increased in 2010 versus 2009; individual service evaluations for the airline were also positive with the check-in experience rating increasing from good to very good, and the food and beverage rating recording a marginal increase. A significant improvement over 2009 was recorded in the category —‘overall cabin features’ — a reflection of the airline’s aggressive re-fleeting strategy and cabin upgrade programme.

An improvement was also recorded in the category, ‘overall in-flight entertainment’, previously identified as an area for development. This is, once again, the result of the airline’s introduction of the new state-of-the-art portable in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for premium passengers during the last quarter of 2009. IFE will be further enhanced with the retrofit of the airline’s A320 fleet, which includes the installation of individual IFE systems in all seats.

The survey also revealed that the most important factor for passengers in selecting Gulf Air was the convenient flight departure and arrival times, a key focus of the airline’s strategy. Gulf Air now offers double daily flights to over seven cities in the Middle East and a choice of over 3,000 connections per week within 3 hours through its efficient Bahrain hub.

This year’s findings also identified that travel agencies remained as the most popular reservation channel with 61% of respondents preferring the traditional booking method. In second place was internet bookings with 19% preferring this option, a two percent increase from 2009, a trend that is expected to continue as online access and e-booking continue to grow.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Gulf Air Chief Services Officer Marcus Bernhardt said, “I want to thank everyone who participated in the survey; the opinions of our passengers are important to us as they provide a valuable insight into their opinions and preferences allowing us to identify areas for improvement. The fact that the survey results are trending in the right direction, is a reflection of our strategy to improve all aspects of the passenger value-chain and the continued work of the services division.”

 “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 reservations centre or on www.gulfair.com, through the airport, boarding, on-board services and baggage claim.”

 “Finally a special thank you must go to the cabin crew for achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating for the second consecutive year, they have done us and Bahrain proud,” he concluded.