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| A Social and Benevolent Organisation |
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Lysa Scully is Assistant Director of Customer, Cargo, Concessions & Airport Services for the Port Authority. She is responsible for providing vision and direction on a broad range of customer, cargo and concession services for Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports. |
| A COMMITMENT RENEWED |
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Our airport system offers travelers an astounding variety of options. So imagine being able to choose from hundreds of destinations with the world’s premier carriers. Or think of being presented with a mosaic of choices for dining and shopping at each of our regional airports. Beyond that, customers at JFK and Newark Liberty have the convenience of connecting to these airports via a modern rail link. These and other services showcase the commitment the Port Authority and its partners have made to ensure that our customers receive the utmost in quality care. And of course it’s a good thing we’re making all these options available. As peak summer travel begins, customers will be passing through our airports in record numbers. We can expect to see 30 million travelers using our airport system this summer, and we want to offer them the utmost in safety, comfort and convenience. Last month we announced some of the enhanced services the Port Authority and its partners will offer customers this summer. Those improvements include an additional 200 customer care representatives at all three airports, new seats in every car of the AirTrain JFK fleet, and dozens of new post-security food and retail concessions. We also announced some longerterm enhancements dedicated to improving customer service even further. This month I’m delighted to welcome new airline service as we form partnerships with these carriers. We include an interview with Lawrence Hunt, Chief Executive Officer of Silverjet, which began service between Newark Liberty and London earlier this year. Silverjet is, in many ways, emblematic of a new era of offering customers alternate choices for overseas travel. We also extend a heartfelt welcome to Zoom Airlines, Cayman Airways and FlyGlobespan, which recently began service out of JFK, and Qatar Airways which recently introduced service out of Newark Liberty. It’s a pleasure to share another customer care recognition program. This month it’s the Quest for the Best Program at LaGuardia’s Central Terminal Building. InMotion team leader, Natasha Holder, tells us how great it feels for her and her team to be recognized for their work and how rewarding she finds this new initiative. As we begin rolling out the latest phase of the Port Authority’s Customer Care Reward and Recognition Program, you’ll be getting a heads up on what you can do to receive an award. Every month we talk about the latest industry innovations we’re using to ensure our regional airports continue to provide unsurpassed global access to all those who live, work and travel in and out of this region. Sometimes we just say it a little differently. But however it’s said, each time it’s evidence of a commitment renewed. |
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Silverjet CEO Lawrence Hunt |
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When Lawrence Hunt founded Silverjet Aviation Limited in 2004, he clearly set out to assemble all the pieces he needed to start up a new airline. In less than three years Mr. Hunt put together a top management team drawn from industry experts with many years of experience, including the company’s Newark Liberty station manager Helen O’Flaherty. He secured the financial backing needed for the new enterprise, started trading on the London Stock Exchange and secured two Boeing 767-200 aircraft and lease rights on two more 767s. On January 25, 2007 Silverjet began service between London’s Luton Airport and Newark |
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Liberty’s Terminal B. The airline currently offers one flight a day between London and EWR and will add a second flight at the end of July.
All Business-Class Service
Looking to capture a key market, Silverjet offers all-business class service between our region and London. In a recent interview, Mr. Hunt talked about some of Silverjet’s cutting-edge innovations. With notable energy and enthusiasm he explained how his airline streamlined the departures process by operating out of Luton Airport, a less-crowded facility than Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted. Silverjet |
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has developed a concierge-type system that allows passengers to check in, go through security and board their flights within 30 minutes of arriving at Luton. He explained that the same time frame also holds true at Newark Liberty. The airline, which seeks to capture a percentage of the business-class market, is currently running with a load factor of 70 percent, while 30 percent of its travelers are repeat customers. Aiming to provide exceptional |
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customer service by offering comfort and convenience from departure to arrival, Silverjet’s staff undergoes extensive service training down to the last detail, including its expert dining service. Travelers have more than 30 menu choices for onboard dining and can even pre-order meals.
Realizing the Realities of Growth That Challenge Large Airports
But staying the course with efficiency and innovation has its challenges as air travel continues to show strong growth. Mr. Hunt told us he would like to see departing flights spending less time on the ground after pulling out of the gate. He realizes the realities of growth that continue to challenge large airports and concedes that there are significant roadblocks to always getting planes off the ground on time. But he said he’d like to see the Port Authority and airlines work closer with the FAA to resolve pressing congestion issues, and in fact, the agency has convened a Flight Delay Task Force to address this issue. He also spoke about the wait time confronting travelers as they go through the immigration process upon arrival at U.S. airports, and said that a friendlier welcome would be more helpful to international arriving passengers. Mr. Hunt told us he appreciates the good and flexible relationship he and his airline have with the Port Authority and other airport partners and noted that Silverjet would be more than willing to share some of its customer service initiatives with the Port Authority airports. And those initiatives seem to be paying off. In its short history, Silverjet has received some outstanding accolades this year. It won the Aviation category at the Condé Nast Design and Innovation Awards, the Travolation Award for the best travel web site, and was recipient of the Institute of Transport Management’s Environmentally Aware Airline 2007 award in recognition of its stance on carbon emissions. Silverjet’s customers get “carbon points,” not frequent-flyer miles. A mandatory carbon offset contribution can be reinvested in a customer’s favorite climate-friendly project. For someone who is already on his seventh business startup, Lawrence Hunt says he experiences little down time, but does enjoy sailing occasionally. These days he spends about 70 percent of his time in the New York/New Jersey region. |
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Team Leader Natasha Holder (R) accepts Quest for the Best award from Market Place General Manager/Vice President Lillian Tan |
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A new initiative is pointedly targeting your efforts to provide stellar customer service to airport customers. MarketPlace Development, which manages the concession programs at LaGuardia’s Central Terminal Building, recently rolled our its Quest for the Best incentive program. Through the program, concession “teams” will accumulate points for mystery shop scores, attendance at MarketPlace and Port Authority training, audit scores and Special Challenges. Each quarter, the team with the most points wins $500 and a Quest for the Best trophy. Teams are eligible to win every quarter, and there will be an annual, cumulative award of $2,500. The program’s first Special Challenge called for “unique greetings.” InMotion Pictures team won the challenge by greeting their customers with the line, “Welcome to InMotion Pictures,” and then asking them if they would like to rent a movie for their flight. InMotion‘s team leader, Natasha |
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Holder, accepted the Quest for the Best trophy at a recent MarketPlace meeting. She said that even though she was part of a small team, she believed it had a chance to win. “Being the first winner is priceless,” she said. “Our name will always be first.” Ms. Holder said she feels the program gives every concession team a fair chance to win an award, and that getting rewarded encourages employees to put forth their best efforts to give customers top service and undergo training. “This program is interesting, rewarding and fun,” she noted. While receiving an award is not the point of providing top-notch customer service, as Natasha Holder suggested, it’s always great to be recognized for your efforts. |
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This month the Port Authority is rolling out a Customer Care Reward and Recognition Program that will publicly recognize employees for their outstanding customer service and acknowledge their accomplishments at two award levels: |
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• Consistency In Service Award
Employees who consistently provide superior customer care to customers
• Above And Beyond Award
Employees who go above and beyond their expected job duties to exceed the needs of customers
Any airport employee who has direct contact with customers is eligible for the Consistency Award, and any airport employee is eligible for the Above and Beyond Award. Both awards will be presented on a quarterly and annual basis. For more information, contact your supervisor. |
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