A two-day workshop was staged by Pegasus Airlines to examine and resolve ground handling issues at the Turkish low-cost carrier. The event, held in Istanbul, allowed the airline to meet with third-party and in-house ground handling operators
Among executives who took workshops at the event were: Murat Demirbilek, vice president ground operations, who opened the two-day gathering; Nilgün Pekel, manager, baggage service; and Deniz Saltık, manager, contracts and network auditing. Topics covered included: mishandled baggage; on-time performance; and the power of social media.
The theme of the workshop was an evaluation of 2015’s operational performance. Almost 200 management-level participants attended from 37 international and 31 domestic stations. Participants were mainly handling company managers and GSAs.
Demirbilek opened the workshop with a look back at Pegasus’ 2015 operations, giving an overview of the issues that concerned him and how can the airline help the passenger checking, baggage and ramp handling process.
The speakers outlined issues relating to a number of topics that were important to the airline such as: DCS, social media impact, on-time performance, safety and emergency response, CRM, contract and network auditing and, lastly, mishandled baggage.
Mishandled baggage is a big concern as it costs Pegasus almost €1 million annually. A disgruntled passenger spoke of her negative experiences in resolving an issue with her daughter’s damaged suitcase.
Why hold an annual workshop?
Why does Pegasus feel that it is important to hold an annual workshop? Senior vice president Bogac Ugurlutegin is straightforward. He says: “It is a chance for us to bring our staff and all our ground service providers together to discuss the issues that we as an airline face and how we can work together in addressing them which is not only in our interest but also our service providers.
“We want all our partners around the world to feel part of the Pegasus family. The workshop also gives a chance for our partners to tell us how we can improve or help them; this is our way of supporting them.
“The workshop is not just about us telling the ground service partners what we are not happy with, it works both ways – we want to know how we can help them in establishing a better working relationship. We as an airline understand how important it is that our ground service providers feel part of a team and we are all working together to provide an excellent customer experience; we have to remember that by outsourcing the ground services at different airports they [the ground service providers] are an important part of our operation as our passengers are not aware that they are not the airline.”
The workshop also gives Pegasus’s partners a chance to tell the airline how it can improve its performance or help them. Partners can update Pegasus on new reporting procedures, new systems that are being implemented and how everyone is doing on KPI targets. The airline also shares data about aircraft damage, baggage damage and lost customer complaints.
Award scheme
Pegasus has an awards ceremony, rewarding high standards of service. The awards are presented at a glittering gala at the end of the two-day workshop. Ugurlutegin says: “We want to reward the best-performing stations and we have done this by annualising the data, that’s how we decide on who gets the awards.”
Best Excess Performance
Doha (DOH) Qatar Air Services
Hatay (HTY) Celebi Aviation
Stuttgart (STR) StuttgartGround Service
Izmir (ADB) Havas AS & Pegasus
Best On-Time Performance
Izmir (ADB) Havas A.S & Pegasus
Best Baggage Handling Performance
Tbilisi (TBS) TAV Urban Georgia
Mus (MSR) Havas AS
Best Document Performance
Bergamo (BGY) AGS Handling
Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) Pegasus
Best Station 2015
Konya (KYA) Havas AS
