Service excellence at Changi Airport goes beyond simple acts

SINGAPORE, 4 March 2019 – From saving lives to averting a potential theft case, these are some of the exemplary acts that were commended at Changi Airport’s Annual Airport Celebration (AAC) 2019. The top award this year is the All-Star Service Team award, which the winning team showed exceptional teamwork to save a passenger’s life. As Changi Airport continues to grow, this award recognises the importance for all staff to work together to ensure all passengers at the airport get to their destinations safely and smoothly, epitomising the ONE Changi spirit.

Recognising the inspiring acts of the service heroes at AAC 2019 today, 25 awards across five categories were given out at the event graced by Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health, Dr Lam Pin Min. The five award categories are ‘All-Star Service Team of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Service Team of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Custodial Staff of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Service Staff of the Year’ and ‘Service Partner of the Year’.

Award recipients have been selected based on how they had gone beyond the call of duty to assist passengers; their initiative, resourcefulness and creativity in handling a difficult situation; as well as passengers’ feedback. For this year, a focus was also placed on how staff across different agencies teamed up to help passengers. The full list of this year’s award recipients can be found in Annex A.

Recognising excellent team work and synergy

Going beyond individual contributions, the top award this year recognises team effort. Collaboration between various agencies is especially important in a big airport like Changi, where there are more than 200 different agencies and partners. Winning the ‘All-Star Service Team of the Year’ award this year is a team of seven who showed exemplary teamwork and resilience while assisting a passenger in need of medical treatment promptly. Coming from different agencies including Certis Aviation Security (People Advantage), P-Serv Pte Ltd and Changi Airport Group (CAG), the team worked together to swiftly activate the medical team, ensuring that the passenger was sent to the hospital without delay. From reaching out to the embassy to combing social media, the team also tried all means to reach the next-of-kin of the passenger. For their swift and skillful assistance, the team members were commended by the passenger for their “impressive emergency-readiness” and for saving his life.

Honouring simple acts that make a difference

With so many activities happening around the terminals every day, simple acts of courage and kindness may go unnoticed. Eighty-one-year-old Trolley Service Officer Lee Yong Foo had spotted a man suspiciously picking up a wallet from the floor and anxiously stashing it into his pocket. Lee confronted him, and he handed the wallet over. This incident was witnessed by the wallet’s owner who was grateful to Lee for preventing the potential theft of his wallet, which contained important belongings he needed for his trip.

Though simple, Lee’s efforts made a significant difference to the experience the passenger had at Changi, and for that he was awarded with the ‘Outstanding Custodial Staff of the Year’ award.

Transforming passengers’ ground transport experience at Changi

In recognition of its dedication to service excellence and staff development, Woodlands Transport Service Pte Ltd (WTS) was named ‘Service Partner of the Year’ in this year’s awards. The ground transport company has been deploying at the airport a fleet of over 40 buses operated by a strong team of about 160 employees. In the last few years, it has introduced 24-hour automated self-service kiosks across all terminals at Changi Airport to bring greater convenience to passengers when booking ground transport. Today, there are 15 kiosks located at the arrival hall of all terminals at Changi Airport. This initiative allows WTS to serve up to 60 passengers per kiosk an hour, five times more than using manual counters. In addition, since 2018, WTS has introduced new technology in every bus to track bus movements in real time. This helps to reduce waiting time for passengers and increases the reliability of WTS’ bus services.

Besides pursuing quality passenger experience, WTS also trains its staff to keep them ahead in today’s dynamic environment. For example, WTS develops in-house Workforce Skills Qualifications certified courses to introduce safe work procedures. Through this, WTS aims to inculcate among its drivers a safety-first mindset and equip them with techniques on how to respond to and manage incidents during a crisis.

Soaring as ONE Changi

With more than 65 million passenger movements passing through Changi Airport last year, the collaboration of all agencies is vital to create a seamless and enjoyable experience for every passenger. This continuous pursuit of service excellence is grounded by the ONE Changi initiative which started four years ago.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CEO of CAG said, “The winning team demonstrated outstanding teamwork and went beyond the call of duty to serve our passenger, embodying the ONE Changi spirit.”

“My heartiest congratulations to the All-Star Team and all our award winners this evening. I am sure your acts of service will inspire others as much as they have inspired me. I would like to once again thank all of you for your immense contribution to Changi’s success.”