Pittsburgh Airport Ranks High with Travelers -- and the Airmall is a Big Part of It

Sep. 23—Pittsburgh International Airport is flying high with travelers in one prominent survey.

In fact, the Findlay facility was among only a handful of airports in North America to score higher in 2022 than the previous year in J.D. Power's annual customer satisfaction report.

Overall, customer satisfaction with airports fell sharply amid canceled flights and crowded terminals as travelers returned to the skies in big numbers as concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic waned.

Helping Pittsburgh International to buck the trend was its food, beverage and retail, which scored the highest of all medium-sized airports in that category.

The stellar ranking came just three months after the Allegheny County Airport Authority fired and evicted longtime Airmall concessions operator Fraport Pittsburgh based on claims of unsatisfactory performance, including alleged security breaches.

While travelers were not asked to judge such charges, they gave the airport high marks for its food, beverage and retail operations — ones that Fraport would have overseen.

In that category, the airport was up six points from last year.

As part of the scoring, customers rated the quality and variety of the food and beverages, reasonableness of price, speed of service and courtesy of the staff.

Fraport has sued the airport authority, which oversees Pittsburgh International, over its termination. A judge refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would have reinstated the operator, which had seven years left on its lease. Fraport is appealing that decision.

Among medium-sized airports with 4.5 million to 9.9 million passengers annually, Pittsburgh finished second to Indianapolis International Airport in overall customer satisfaction with a score of 839 (on a 1,000-point scale). That was three points less than Indianapolis's 842.

"They did an excellent job. They're one of the few airports that improved their performance versus last year. That's impressive," said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power managing director of travel, hospitality, and retail.

In a statement, Samantha Stedford, Pittsburgh International director of customer experience, said, "Passengers are at the heart of everything we do, and it's such an honor to be recognized for the services we provide our customers.

"The Airport Authority has focused on improving the customer experience and we are looking forward to when the new terminal opens to enhance that even further."

As part of the survey, travelers ranked airports in six areas — terminal facilities, airport arrival/departure, baggage claim, security check, check-in/baggage check, and food, beverage and retail.

While Pittsburgh International is in the midst of a $1.4 billion modernization, including construction of a new landside building for check-in, security and baggage claim, travelers appeared to have no problems with the 30-year-old midfield terminal.

In terminal facilities, the airport was up 14 points compared to last year and finished second in that category behind Indianapolis, Mr. Taylor reported.

He added that in terms of overall performance, the only other airports to improve their score from last year were Calgary, Cleveland, Tampa, Houston Hobby and Oakland.

Most airports watched their scores plunge by double digits as crowds ballooned close to pre-pandemic levels only to be hit with flight cancellations, higher prices and labor shortages.

In fact, overall customer satisfaction with North American airports fell by 25 points to 777, J.D. Power reported.

Mr. Taylor attributed the turbulence to the fact that there are so many more people using airports this year than in 2021. Another big factor at many airports was a shortage of staff to manage food and beverage concessions, he said.

He called the decline in customer satisfaction "completely expected" given such circumstances.

"It's a problem the industry wants to have. When you don't have anyone going through your airports, that's not a problem you want," he said.

In a statement, Mr. Taylor predicted that extremely crowded terminals and frustration among travelers would be an issue again next year.

Among the findings of the survey, 58% of travelers found airport terminals to be severely or moderately crowded — just about the same as the 59% who reported such conditions in pre-pandemic 2019.

In addition, 24% of travelers stated that they did not buy any food or beverages while using airports because it was too expensive. That compared with 20% in 2021 and 23% in 2019.

Customers also expressed more dissatisfaction in 2022 than last year with the availability and price of surface parking at airports.

"In some ways, this is a return to normal as larger crowds at airports tend to make travelers more frazzled, but in cases where parking lots are over capacity, gates are standing-room only and restaurants and bars are not even open to offer some reprieve, it is clear that increased capacity in airports can't come soon enough," Mr. Taylor said.

Through August of this year, Pittsburgh International passenger traffic has returned to 82% of pre-pandemic 2019. Globally, it is up to about 91%.

The study, now in its 17th year, was based on completed responses involving 26,529 U.S. and Canadian travelers who had used at least one airport in either of those countries. The report, which took place between August 2021 and July 2022, included evaluations of arriving and departing airports as well as connecting ones.

Among mega airports with at least 33 million passengers a year, Minneapolis-St. Paul International ranked first with a score of 800. In the large category (10 million to 32.9 million passengers), Tampa International was tops with a score of 846.

Mark Belko: [email protected].

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