From today, passengers traveling through Beijing Capital
International Airport will spend no more than 3 minutes going
through customs and less than 10 minutes waiting for a security
check.
Those are just two of the promises made jointly by airport
companies, airlines and government departments at a meeting in
Beijing yesterday.
Dong Zhiyi, general manager of the airport, told a press
conference he wanted to provide passengers with a level of service
as good as any in Europe, as part of its preparations for next
year's Olympics.
The airport currently lags behind Sydney and Athens, the hosts
of the two previous Olympics, in terms of its customer satisfaction
rate, he said.
In a survey on customer satisfaction conducted last year by the
Airport Council International last year, Capital was given a score
of 3.51 on a scale of one to five.
"We want to achieve 3.7 by the end of this year, which is higher
than Sydney (3.69 in 2006), and reach 4.0 before the Games begin,
which would be higher than Athens (3.82 in 2006)," he said.
The airport has introduced a series of measures to reduce
waiting times and improve the overall level of service.
One new service is sending delayed luggage on to passengers in
Beijing free of charge within 24 hours.
Others include setting time limits on procedures to ensure
passengers never have to wait too long, he said.
Passengers on international flights will spend no more than 45
seconds in frontier inspection, and a maximum of 3 minutes at
quarantine and customs, he said.
Exceptions will be made only in cases where officials believe an
individual merits closer inspection, he said.
Ninety-five percent of all international travelers will wait no
more than 25 minutes before entering the processes of check-in and
border checks.
As for flight delays and expensive catering and shopping
facilities, which have been the two most common complaints in
recent years, he said airlines will provide free food to passengers
whose flights are delayed for more than 2 hours due to airlines'
reasons, and free accommodation if flights are delayed for 4 hours
due to airlines' reasons.
Meanwhile, products on sale at the airport will be priced the
same as in Beijing's downtown area, he said.
For example, Beijing roast duck used to sell for 98 yuan ($13)
at the airport. Now it will be priced at 72 yuan, the same as
downtown.
(China Daily August 30, 2007)
