Realising Turkish Airlines’ unique passenger product to improve customer experience at the Istanbul Airport
Opened in 2018, the Istanbul Airport replaced the ageing and crowded Atatürk Airport and would accommodate Türkiye’s double-digit growth in passenger numbers. The national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines, appointed NACO to ensure the airline’s unique passenger product to enable a world class customer experience is properly facilitated by the greenfield airport’s design.
Project results
- • Supporting Turkish Airlines’ vision for the Istanbul Airport
- • Improving the customer experience journey across all touchpoints within the Istanbul Airport Masterplan
- • Identifying challenges and improvement measures to be undertaken before the transition to the new airport
- • Airport awarded 5-star Skytrax rating for customer experience (2020)
In its foundational years, the Istanbul Airport rose to the task of handling more than 52 million annual passengers by 2019 and thanks to rapid recovery, was the busiest European hub airport in 2021.
Throughout it all, home carrier, Turkish Airlines, has continued to provide a world class customer experience. And it all has started with a great plan. Ahead of the airport opening in 2018, NACO supported the works that form the basis of today's passenger satisfaction.
How to improve passenger experience in an airport? Plan, plan, plan.
Improving the passenger experience at an airport begins at the airport master plan stage. We reviewed the Istanbul Airport’s plans with this in mind, ensuring the terminal process and functional design would meet the needs of daily travellers – both today and in the future.
For a daily passenger, being able to find their way smoothly around an airport, relieves stress and ensures a more comfortable experience. To that end, we reviewed and ensured wayfinding and visuals were adequately considered and optimised to create clear line of sight.
Elsewhere, we provided Turkish Airlines with insights and takeaways from the plans that enabled them to understand potential bottlenecks before the airport opened, and plan strategies and improvement measures accordingly to resolve these.
For a daily passenger, being able to find their way smoothly around an airport, relieves stress and ensures a more comfortable experience. To that end, we reviewed and ensured wayfinding and visuals were adequately considered and optimised to create clear line of sight.
Elsewhere, we provided Turkish Airlines with insights and takeaways from the plans that enabled them to understand potential bottlenecks before the airport opened, and plan strategies and improvement measures accordingly to resolve these.
Supporting Turkish Airlines’ vision
Our reviews and analysis also ensured that Turkish Airlines’ strategic vision could be reflected in the Istanbul Airport. From visible corporate branding to operational cost analysis, we shared our findings in order to support the vision of Turkish Airlines into tangible metrics to facilitate the transition into the new airport.
We are delighted to have supported Turkish Airlines and the Istanbul Airport in exceeding the passenger needs; contributing the airport to take on significant passenger growth swiftly after its opening, whilst ensuring a five-star customer experience.”
Project results
- ClientTurkish Airlines
- LocationIstanbul, Turkey
- Period2015-2018
- SolutionDesigning strategic plan for Turkish Airlines’ vision for Istanbul Airport, with passenger experience at the heart of design and operations
