Passengers Experience at the Future of Aviation Conference in Riyadh
Follow up - Samira Al-Qattan
The General Authority of Civil Aviation has placed the issue of improving the passenger experience among the priorities and objectives of the Future of Aviation Conference, which will be organized by the authority during the period from 9-11 May at the King Abdulaziz International Convention and Exhibition Center in Riyadh, with the aim of discussing the rights of passengers and raising the level of quality of services and upgrading them to reach high levels. .
The conference supports recent trends in improving the passenger experience and advancing it to high levels that keep pace with the progress witnessed by the sector and investing in technologies to facilitate travel and expedite its procedures, develop solutions and address deficiencies in travel procedures for persons with disabilities and improve their experience at all stages of travel. The authority will present a package of measures and initiatives it has taken in A way to preserve the rights of passengers at Saudi airports.
It also sheds light on the rights and duties of travelers on the journey of travel through regulations and legislation enacted to protect their rights, take care of their services and improve the travel experience, including the issuance of the executive regulations to protect the rights of travelers in 2017, which clarifies their rights and duties, the complaint mechanism, the rights of travelers with disabilities, special needs and the obligations of the air carrier. The Kingdom is the first Arab country to issue an approved regulation in this field.
In a statistic of the passenger care communication channels for the year 2021 AD, the total interaction of the communication channels with the care of travelers reached 699,600 interactions with the channels, including: 549,312 calls received through the call center, 21,399 travelers were served via e-mail, and 81,500 conversations in the means of communication The social network, 33,100 conversations via the website, and 20,300 requests received via the website, while the number of complaints on air carriers amounted to 4,843 complaints, and on airports, 1,186 complaints, and the rate of handling complaints in a timely manner for carriers was 85 % and for airports 86%.
In order to raise the level of services provided to travelers in the Kingdom and enable the consumer’s voice to be heard, the authority has launched a comprehensive electronic portal concerned with improving the passengers’ experience and upgrading the level of services through platforms dedicated to complaints, suggestions, inquiries and obligations of the air carrier and travelers.
to enhance transparency; The authority launched the Complaints Performance Indicators Report for Air Transport and Airport Service Providers (in terms of complaints submitted to the authority) with the aim of providing travelers with information on the performance of air transport and airport service providers in resolving passenger complaints so that they can choose the appropriate service provider.
And in order to push the airports to compete in order to provide services of high quality and efficiency; The authority has also launched the monthly report on the operational performance standards for airports, confirming the control and supervisory roles played by the authority.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation paid attention to the category of people with disabilities; It discussed with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and the Authority for the Care of Persons with Disabilities ways to facilitate the experience of the traveler with disabilities at airports and air carriers, in addition to organizing workshops to identify the most important challenges facing travelers with disabilities, thus contributing to addressing the shortcomings in travel procedures for persons People with disabilities and improve their experience at all stages of travel.
It provided multiple communication channels around the clock to ensure interaction with travelers and airport goers through the following communication channels: the unified call center (8001168888), the (WhatsApp) service via the number 0115253333, social media accounts, e-mail, and the website, where the authority receives complaints through these channels around the clock.
To ensure that passengers' complaints are dealt with in the fullest manner, the authority has prepared a guide that includes instructions on how to deal with passengers' complaints at airports and air carriers, as it sets out the controls and service level agreements that must be adhered to for all types of complaints and inquiries.
It is noteworthy that the Conference on the Future of Aviation will be launched in the presence of elite representatives of the civil aviation sector around the world and high-level civil aviation leaders from various countries and organizations, as well as CEOs of a number of international air transport companies and a group of businessmen, with the participation of more than 120 speakers, and 40 sessions will be held distributed over Three days to explore the future of aviation.