Author: abermeo

• Received the ASQ Award given by the Airports Council International for the second consecutive year.
• 300 airports from more than 80 countries participated in the ASQ programme.

Quito, March 1st, 2016. Yesterday, the Airports Council International (ACI)—an organization that regulates and represents 1,861 airports in 177 countries—revealed the results of the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards for 2015 (the most prestigious international awards regarding airport services offered to passengers) for the Latin America & Caribbean region. Quito International Airport has achieved second place in this category for the second consecutive year among 18 airports that participated.

ASQ is the main benchmarking programme measuring passengers’ satisfaction with airport services across the globe, with the participation of close to 300 airports in more than 80 countries. In 2015, the results highlight the best airports in a variety of categories.

The ASQ Survey covers 34 key service areas and includes eight major categories, such as access roads, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage providers, commercial offering and much more. All participating airports use the same survey questions. This creates an industry standard set of responses that allows the participating airports to track and analyse their performance as well as benchmark their results against airports across the globe. All participating airports may see the ASQ Survey results for all other participating airports confidentially.

“Airports’ increasing concentration on ensuring a stellar passenger experience is part of a larger trend,” noted Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World. “Airports have evolved into complex, customer-focused businesses in their own right that in many cases are in competition with each other for passenger traffic. From duty free and restaurants to ambience, cleanliness, courtesy of staff, amenities, efficiency and more, air travelers are expecting big things from the airports through which they travel. More than anything, ASQ is a way for participants to measure the extent to which they deliver on these expectations.”

Andrew O’Brian, President and Director General of Corporación Quiport, concessionaire of Quito International Airport, noted that “the recognition given by ACI is a source of satisfaction and pride. However, at the same time, it commits us to continue searching for opportunities to improve our service since it allows us to carry out a comparative study of our weaknesses and strengths in relation to other airports on a global scale, with an emphasis on terminals with similar characteristics to our own.”

• The expectations are that the addition of the new airline will stimulate the growth of passenger numbers between Quito and Florida by 40%.
• The route, including seven flights a week, will be served by its Airbus 320 aircraft with a capacity for 150 passengers.
• This milestone is a demonstration of the growing importance of Quito and its airport as a premier destination on a regional scale.

Quito, 25 February 2016. This afternoon marked the arrival at Mariscal Sucre International Airport of the inaugural JetBlue flight joining the city of Quito to the city of Fort Lauderdale in the United States.

Upon its arrival at the capital´s airport, the airline´s Airbus 320 was received with a water arch salute from two fire engines of the airport´s Fire and Rescue Service, a traditional welcome in the aviation industry on important occasions. The addition of JetBlue to the roster of airlines at the Mariscal Sucre Airport is a sign of the growing importance of Quito as a premier tourism destination on a regional scale.

The International Quito Airport is the main entry point to Ecuador. Thanks to its technical characteristics, the airport has allowed a significant increase in connectivity for Quito and the country, at the same time offering more efficient operations for airlines and an excellent service for passengers.

Andrew O’Brian, President and Director General of Corporación Quiport (concessionaire of Mariscal Sucre Airport) explained that “the entry of this type of airline to the Ecuadorian market is very important as it is a stimulus for the market of this particular route. Currently around 180,000 passengers travel from Quito to Florida per year and we hope that this stimulus will see numbers on this route grow by 40%”.

At a special ceremony held at Mariscal Sucre Airport to mark the start of JetBlue´s service, Catalina Bretón, the company´s Commercial and International Planning Director, stated that “with this new route we expect the seat occupancy on flights to Fort Lauderdale to be similar to the occupancy rate throughout our network of routes, at around 85%, and given that we will offer a daily flight on single cabin 150-seat aircraft, we expect to transport approximately 93,000 passengers during the first year of operations”.

Andrew O’Brian emphasized that “the start of operations by JetBlue in Quito is an important milestone for connectivity between Ecuador and the United States. It is the result of intense work carried out over a period of more than two years”. He thanked JetBlue for its trust in choosing Corporación Quiport as its strategic partner in Ecuador and choosing Mariscal Sucre Airport for its operations.

For her part, Catalina Bretón expressed her satisfaction in bringing the “JetBlue Experience” to Ecuador. “We have shown that through our unique business model which combines low fares with high quality service, we have been successful not only in the United States but in Latin America and the Caribbean”.

The arrival of JetBlue is expected to have a positive impact on tourism from the United States and will provide Ecuadorian passengers with a greater offer of destinations from Fort Lauderdale since this airport acts as a connection hub from which JetBlue currently offers non-stop flights to more than 40 destinations, boosting connectivity to and from Quito.