The FINANCIAL — A benchmarking report released by the City and County of San Francisco’s Office of the Controller concludes that the services and practices of the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) lead in several important categories compared to similar large airports across the United States.
The report, prepared by the City Services Auditor, compared SFO to 12 other peer airports across the nation, including Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York-JFK, LAX, Seattle, and Washington-Dulles, according to SFO.
Key findings were as follows:
SFO experienced the highest rate of passenger enplanement growth, at 33%, from 2007 to 2014. During the same period, five peer airports experienced a loss in enplanements.
SFO generated the highest rate of gross concession sales per enplanement of any peer airport, at a rate of $34.60 per enplanement. This rate was $12.08 higher than any other peer airport.
Within gross concession sales, SFO also led the peer group in food and beverage sales per enplanement, and gross duty-free sales per international enplanement.
“SFO is the international gateway to our City, and this Controller’s report clearly demonstrates that our Airport is setting the standard for high quality service and performance,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “I thank the City Services Auditor for their in-depth analysis, and acknowledge the outstanding commitment of the SFO team for helping our travelers arrive and depart from our City.”
“This report clearly details the strong passenger traffic growth at SFO, and result of such growth – a highly competitive market for both fares and service, made possible by our efforts to ensure gate available to support airline growth,” said Airport Director John L. Martin. “This study also validates our approach to concessions, which involves a large mix of local businesses. Over 75% of our food, beverage, and retail tenants are Bay-Area based, and I firmly believe this is the key to our revenue success.”
The report also noted the following:
In the Airport Council International (ACI) Airline Service Quality survey, an independent measure of passenger satisfaction used by more than 250 airports worldwide, SFO exceeded the panel average in categories such as courtesy, wait times, cleanliness, and facility comfort.
SFO ranked above the peer airport average in the following areas:
Total enplanements (23.5 million in 2014)
Total passenger flights (over 200,000 at SFO in FY2014)
Total enplanements per flight (115 enplanements per flight)
Origin & destination percentage (SFO – 79% of passengers originating)
Diversity of airlines (service offered by 49 airlines at SFO)
Revenue from non-aeronautical sources (44% from non-aviation sources)
The City Services Auditor was created within the Controller’s Office to report on the level and effectiveness of San Francisco’s public services and to benchmark the City to other public agencies. Audits and analytical projects are intended to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of department processes and services.
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