Customer Service at Airports: Who is the Customer? What is Service? Ron Kuhlmann Vice President Unisys Transportation 5 March 2006 Abu Dhabi

Agenda Historical Perspective How do we define Customers? How do they define Service? How do airports provide (defined) service to (identified) customers? Where do we go from here?

Airports began as rail stations. Rail transport was the only point of reference Seen as a municipal service Potential was unclear Community pride was involved

Airlines, not airports, were the deal Airports were functional Points of embarkation and debarkation They became expressions of the carrier image They were locally funded

In a regulated (to about 1980) environment airports: knew their operators and routes had clearly defined markets and potential were vehicles for particular brand identification had few surprises were viewed as utilities

Deregulation changed things Massive hub and spoke systems emerged Airports fell into clear categories Spending at hubs was directed to the hub carrier Spoke cities saw dramatic schedule increases to multiple hubs Airlines drove growth

And then…? New entrants undermined legacy carriers Internet bookings gave customers complete price transparency Reduced yields increased the importance of cost control 9/1, followed by SARS, realigned the players Cost control included all operational aspects

Suddenly: Airports needed to be much more cost efficient Airports saw major shifts in constituents Airports needed to aggressively market themselves Airports found that they, not their airlines, needed to be competitive Security became the prime passenger activity

Which brings us to today Functions previously performed enroute have move to the airport Functions previously done at the airport have moved off-site Cost competitiveness has become a fixed goal Non-aviation revenues are ever more important Supported utility status has been replaced by need for sustained profitability

Who knows what well do in Dubai. Discussion?