Innovation of the Schiphol Departure Hall, based on the passenger experience
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the main airport of the Netherlands and one of the largest airports in Europe. In the current competition between European Airports, Schiphol aims to become Europe’s preferred airport. To achieve this, Schiphol Group wants to increase the perceived quality judgement of passengers by investing in innovation.
The departure hall is an important part of Schiphol, where many passengers start their journey. The function of the departure hall is to facilitate the check in and baggage drop-off of passengers and guide them to the security filter. The attractiveness of Schiphol for passengers is for a large amount determined by the quality perception of the departure hall.
The first departure halls (Departures 1 and 2) date from 1967. Apart from some adjustments at the check in desks and the baggage systems, these departure halls have not been renewed on large scale since. Recently many main airports in Europe have been building new terminals to modern standards (e.g. London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt) giving them a competitive advantage in comparison to Schiphol. Because of that, the need has emerged to see whether the departure hall still fits with the needs and wishes of passengers and to define what should be done to better meet these needs.
Approach
An innovative concept for the Schiphol departure hall will be designed, based on a new passenger experience, leading to a higher quality perception of passengers. The concept will focus on Departures 1, since these are the first one built and therefore the first one to be examined.
The new concept should keep in mind the following aspects;
• the different functions of the departure hall;
• the different users of the departure hall and their needs;
• creating ground among the different stakeholders;
• feasibility within the current building;
• implementation on short term;
• attractiveness for passengers on long term.
Results
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AAS) is the fifth largest airport in Europe. For all passengers departing from AAS, part of their journey takes place in the Schiphol departure hall. The assignment for this graduation project is the design of a new concept for Schiphol Departures 1 for 2020, based on the passenger?s experience, leading to a higher quality perception of passengers. This should lead to the positioning of Schiphol as Europe's preferred airport.
In order to improve the passenger experience, a study has been conducted to see which factors influence the passenger quality perception. Ten factors have been identified that influence the passenger quality perception. Based on these factors, three customer segments have been identified.
To gain more insights in the experience of the departure process of these three segments, a context mapping study has been conducted. The insights from this study have been used for a re-design for Departures 1. The re-design contains different kinds of aspects: adaptations on process and service level, but also building and interior adjustments. During an evaluation with passengers and experts of Schiphol Group and KLM, the new concept was evaluated as a good improvement of the current situation.
