With weekly airline passenger volumes now reaching 75% or more of pre-pandemic levels, travelers have officially come back to North American airports. Unfortunately, according to the J.D. Power 2021 North America Airport Satisfaction Study,? released today, many of them are arriving to find food, beverage and retail options severely limited as airports struggle with a persistent labor shortage. While airports have maintained historically strong customer satisfaction scores throughout the pandemic, reaching an overall record high of 802 (on a 1,000-point scale) this year, the combination of steadily rising passenger volumes and shuttered coffee shops and eateries has caused satisfaction scores to decline significantly through the second and third quarters of 2021 (last half of the study).
"Airport customer satisfaction reached all-time highs when passenger volumes were severely suppressed by the pandemic, but as leisure travel rebounded sharply throughout the spring and summer of 2021, we saw an expected downturn in satisfaction," said Michael Taylor, travel intelligence lead at J.D. Power. "Ultimately, the data conveys changing expectations among travelers. Early in the pandemic, passengers were satisfied with any shop or restaurant being open, but they now expect full service at the airport."
Following are some key findings of the 2021 study:
Study Rankings
Miami International Airport ranks highest in passenger satisfaction among mega airports with a score of 828. John F. Kennedy International Airport (817) ranks second and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (815) ranks third.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport ranks highest among large airports with a score of 844. Tampa International Airport (843) ranks second and Raleigh-Durham International Airport (841) ranks third.
Individual airports in the medium airports category were not award eligible this year due to reduced passenger volumes.
The 2021 North America Airport Satisfaction Study measures overall traveler satisfaction with mega, large and medium North American airports by examining six factors (in order of importance): terminal facilities; airport arrival/departure; baggage claim; security check; check-in/baggage check; and food, beverage and retail. Mega airports are those with 33 million or more passengers per year; large airports with 10 to 32.9 million passengers per year; and medium airports with 4.5 to 9.9 million passengers per year.
Now in its 16th year, the study is based on 13,225 completed surveys from U.S. or Canadian residents who traveled through at least one U.S. or Canadian airport and covers both departure and arrival experiences (including connecting airports) during the past 30 days. Travelers evaluated either a departing or arriving airport from their round-trip experience. The study was fielded from August 2020 through July 2021.
For more information about the North America Airport Satisfaction Study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/north-america-airport-satisfaction-study.
To view the online press release, please visit http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2021116.
About J.D. Power
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.
J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.
About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info
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