With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/443582
bCbusIness.Ca February 2015 BCBusiness 35 Amidst the stream of rolling luggage and carts, Richmond stops abruptly, crouches and picks up what appears to be a crumpled receipt, which he pock- ets before proceeding. Minutes later, he spots detritus on the terminal floor—this time a tissue—but decides to walk on. "That one's for the folks with gloves." Since being spun off into a private entity by the federal government in 1992, YVR has emerged as a trendsetter in the industry, peddling to other airports everything from kiosks that automate the check-in process to software that simu- lates the ebb and flow of queues (inter- national airlines haven't always rotated their check-in counters but do so now thanks to YVR). Meanwhile, the Canada Line—which the authority paid $300 mil- lion to have extended across the length of its Sea Island property in 2009—has created the fastest fixed-link connection between a metropolitan airport and its associated downtown in North America. But above all else, it is YVR's laser-like focus on the customer experience—down to the cleanliness of its terminal floors— that keeps the airport ranked so highly among locals and visitors alike. In addi- tion to being ranked fifth in our second annual B.C.'s Most Loved Brands survey (done in partnership with Ipsos; more details on p.36), YVR is regularly recog- nized as the top airport in North America at the World Airport Awards, garner- ing satisfaction ratings of 85 to 95 per cent from internally conducted annual surveys. The fact that YVR—indeed, any air- port—is able to accomplish this is no small feat, for there are many moving parts that affect a traveller's experience. Each day, YVR deals with 27 airline operators, two federal government agencies and U.S. Customs, plus dozens of retail businesses and a slew of independent contractors. From the cranky customs officer to the officious check-in clerk to the weather- related delays, there are countless oppor- tunities for a customer to sour on an airport. The fact that YVR—the umbrella under which all that activity occurs—has been able to forge such a stellar reputa- tion in that context is remarkable, says Brent McFerran, assistant professor of marketing at SFU's Beedie School of Busi- ness. "Do consumers blame the airport for the weather? Not directly, but cer- tainly their reaction to the weather, how do they respond when there's weather, that part often falls on the airport." R ichmond—the man who's lef t answering for the weather, even if he can't control it—has spent over two decades with YVR. A former fighter pilot and son of longtime Kamloops MLA and cabinet minister Claude Richmond, the 57-year-old started off as YVR's head of operations before moving on to run air- ports in the U.K. and the Bahamas as part of YVR's spinoff management group, Van- tage Airport Group. In 2013, following the retirement of longtime YVR chief Larry Berg, Richmond became president and CEO. His mandate: keep airline fees low, attract new carriers and don't overbuild— a plague of many airport authorities (see: Mirabel, Montreal). "We don't build space that isn't used," he says. With several major expansions on the horizon, including an incoming baggage system priced at $200 million, the airport B.C.'s most loved Brands In addition to being ranked fifth in our second annual b.C.'s Most Loved brands survey, yVr is regularly recognized as the top airport in north america at the World airport awards and garners satisfaction rat- ings of 85 to 95 per cent from internally conducted annual surveys continued on page 44