A major investment programme will significantly enhance the passenger experience at Liverpool John Lennon Airport over the next five years. Terminal refurbishment works and expansion of facilities will be undertaken in line with future passenger and airline growth. The airport has seen significant growth over the past 12 months, following the addition of several new routes and airlines. This resulted in a 6% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers in the first half of 2015.
Andrew Cornish, CEO Liverpool John Lennon Airport: “We’re also getting to the place where people are understanding what we’re about – our message of ‘faster, easier, closer’ is what we’re good at, and we’re really focused on that.”
The Peel Group’s commitment to significant investment in the airport will mean real practical improvements, which Andrew Cornish, CEO Liverpool John Lennon Airport, explained are “totally customer-driven”. Indeed, many of the planned enhancements are the result of a review that was undertaken to better understand the passenger experience. “This has included participation in the ASQ Survey programme – the world’s leading airport customer satisfaction benchmark programme, developing a customer service training programme for staff across a number of areas of the business, and even establishing a VIP Customer Board, with key regional stakeholders and regular airport users giving us their views on the airport experience and how we can make this even better,” Cornish commented.
£3 million (€4m) is being invested in short-term improvements, including new flooring, washrooms, carpets, seating, and flight information display screens. There are also plans to enhance the premium car parking offer in September, while the fast-track product in security will be enhanced and linked with the premium parking. “These are real, tangible things that are the bread and butter of what we call fixing the basics,” Cornish added.
These developments follow the recent £1 million (€1.4m) departure lounge improvement works, which have provided a more spacious, light and airy feel. The revised look and feel to the much-expanded Kissing Gate Bar & Eatery is a further noticeable improvement, with the introduction of popular booth seating so that diners can have a meal while overlooking the airfield.
“Commercial revenues at regional airports are key to the sustainability of the business, particularly in today’s market where low-cost carriers dominate,” Cornish said. “As a consequence, we continually look at the choice of facilities here for our passengers to both improve upon what we have and to expand this further in line with the facilities and retail offers that passengers want.”
The much-expanded Kissing Gate Bar & Eatery is a notable improvement as part of the £1 million (€1.4m) departure lounge works. Popular booth seating means that diners can have a meal while overlooking the airfield.
The infrastructure developments build on growing passenger numbers. The latest figures for July show a year-on-year rise of almost 7%, and indications point to a similar increase for August in what will be Liverpool John Lennon’s seventh consecutive month of growth. The positive July figures resulted from a strong performance its existing operators, as well as new scheduled services by SkyTeam operator Czech Airlines.
“Some new airlines have come in, which is fantastic, so by this time next year we’ll have double the number of airlines that we had a year ago. Our existing airline customers have got much higher load factors than previously – they’re running at over 90% load factors, which is up about five percentage points year-on-year,” Cornish commented. “We’re also getting to the place where people are understanding what we’re about – our message of ‘faster, easier, closer’ is what we’re good at, and we’re really focused on that.”
Liverpool John Lennon already offers a great customer experience, and it’s about to get a whole lot better by early next year when the latest improvements are complete.
Czech Airlines inaugurated services between Liverpool and Prague in July. Pictured are LJLA’s Paul Winfield, Air Service Development Manager (far left) and Czech Airlines’ Jitka Kolářová, Marketing Manager (far right) with Captain Ott, cutting the ribbon on the first departure.
Looking ahead, the airport’ strategy is to increase its range of connections. Cornish explained that the Liverpool City Region market is underserved, and the airport wants to provide greater choice for passengers, not just locally but further afield. “Gaps in the market that we are looking to fill include charter holiday traffic, more business routes, services to main European points, and making sure the airport has more global connections,” he said.
Important new services will commence this autumn, including Flybe to Amsterdam, and Aer Lingus to Dublin, both of which will provide vital new onward long-haul connectivity.
It is certainly an exciting time for Liverpool John Lennon, and its latest investment programme will help to ensure that while continuing to grow the business further by offering passengers greater choice of airlines and destinations, it can also give them the best possible passenger experience.
