2020 wasn’t quite the year we all wanted, but at Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) we’ve chosen to start 2021 by focusing on the positives. We’ve rounded up some of our best bits from last year. Welcome to ACL’s highlights!
-
Our Industry
Although 2020 will be remembered as one of the biggest crises in recent aviation history, what last year did demonstrate was the strength and resolve of a passionate industry who can pull together. The support this year from businesses across our trade has been inspiring and we’ve enjoyed collaborating, supporting and working with everyone who has helped us to grow as an organisation over the last year.
-
Adaptability
Within a night ACL went from being a face-to-face, office-based organisation to going completely remote. We not only learnt to adjust our individual working styles, but we adapted and grew as a business. We took on a wave of slot cancellations, queries and policy changes which kept our coordinators busy during the pandemic. We saw the best out of our people in 2020 and are so proud how readily they rose to the challenge and adapted to the new norm.
-
Innovation
Whilst last year felt like a bit of a set-back, in reality it spurred us to be more innovative than ever. New processes become the norm at ACL. Changes led to major system developments and impressive Power BI achievements. We provided Covid Cancellation reports to our airport customers and industry forums providing them with the data they needed, and we launched our new interactive Start of Season reports, which provided important commercial information and allowed data to be filtered by operators, weeks and routes.
-
Self-Improvement
2020 taught us not only to be grateful for our own heath, and the health of our families, but the health of our organisation too. We looked inward and went about improving things within our own business. As a result, scores from our annual staff survey rose across the board. Our overall Engagement measure reached significantly higher than other benchmarked organisations (+15% ) and staff satisfaction improved significantly.
-
Customer commitment
2020 made us focus even more on our customers and make sure we were supporting them through some of their toughest times. We were devoted to making sure the service we delivered was as effective as possible, being proactive rather than reactive; responding to their needs; and working together to create new processes, reporting and insights. Each of us experienced, more than ever, the importance of good values, empathy and relationships which we built into the customer service commitments we launched in 2020 which you can view on our website – https://www.acl-uk.org/our-customer-service-charter/
-
Welcoming new customers to the fold
This year we welcomed six new airports in Oman to our portfolio; Muscat International Airport, Duqm Airport, Marmul Airport, Qarn Alam Airport, Salalah Airport and Suhur Airport. We also formally began our data collection service at Riga airport and expanded our airport schedule data sales to more ground handling and travel agencies. We look forward to working with each of these customers for years to come.
-
Expanding our ACL family
Last year we welcomed two new excellent members to our team, Richard Jones and Wade Chan. They slotted in (excuse the pun) seamlessly and successfully into ACL without ever meeting more than a handful of us in person. Both have brought strong experience with them and made a positive difference to the way we work and the service we provide to our customers.
-
Some ‘Us’ time
We pulled out the stops this year to make sure our forced separation didn’t threaten to pull us apart. Virtual Teams meetings, board meetings, even conferences became the norm. ACL pulled together in the background too with regular group games, after work quizzes, a vibrant social feed and even an eventful virtual Christmas gathering.
With 2020 behind us, we are looking forward to supporting our customers through the next year and many more years to come. Though the route may be bumpy, and the destination sometimes unclear, as an industry, we have proven our resolve to get through it together, and at ACL we are determined more than ever to continue delivering coordination excellence.
