Beijing Capital International Airport snagged all but one award in a domestic airport service evaluation, the most of any airport evaluated.

In the evaluation of airports with an annual passenger throughput of at least 10 million, which amounted to seven last year, the capital airport won awards for best service quality, best catering service, and best airport lounge. The only award it failed to win was the award for airport shopping service.

Guangzhou Airport won two awards, one for best service quality and one for best airport lounge. Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Shenzhen Airport each won honors for the best shopping service. Shanghai Pudong Airport was praised for its catering service.

The sponsor, the China Civil Airport Association, said it hired intermediary companies to evaluate a total of 44 airports that have an annual passenger throughput of more than 1 million.

"The evaluation pursues fairness, with both passengers and professionals' opinions taken into consideration," Wang Jian, secretary general of the association, said at the award ceremony yesterday.

"We have even referred to the evaluation methods of the Airport Council International (ACI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) to make sure we follow international standards," he said.

Qingdao Airport and Zhengzhou Airport won all four awards in their respective categories - airports with annual passenger throughput between 5 and 10 million and between 1 and 5 million.

"We hope the evaluation can help airports find problems in their services. In the future, the evaluation should be conducted once every two years," said Gao Hongfeng, deputy chief of CAAC.

Li Xiaomei, spokeswoman with the capital airport, said that the airport has plans for improving the shopping environment and service.

New measures will be undertaken starting at the end of the year, including selling products at the airport at the same price one would pay in Beijing's downtown area, and giving consumers refunds for goods purchased within a week at the airport under certain conditions, she said.

She also said the new third terminal building, to be opened next February, will triple the current amount of shopping space at the airport.

The airport vowed to achieve a rating of 3.7 by the end of the year, and hopes to reach 4.0 before the 2008 Olympic Games, a higher rating than airports in both Sydney and Athens.

In a survey of customer satisfaction conducted by ACI last year, the capital airport was given a score of 3.51 on a scale from one to five.

(China Daily September 27, 2007)