Fintraffic's Air Navigation Services cooperate with many different actors in their work to ensure safe, smooth and environmentally friendly air traffic. An important tool for measuring the effectiveness of cooperation and for supporting service development is the annual customer satisfaction survey – for which the number of respondents increased significantly this year. What were the results of the 2023 survey of the quality of air navigation services?
The 2023 annual customer satisfaction survey of Fintraffic Air Navigation Services was the sixth of its kind. Feedback was collected through an online survey composed of multiple choice and evaluation questions, with respondents also able to give free-form feedback. Respondents evaluated the services on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent).
"The number of respondents increased significantly this year – by about 100. In comparing the results, however, it should be noted that coronavirus had a strong impact on last year’s responses and response rates,” explains Planning Manager Timo Suorto of Fintraffic Air Navigation Services.
A wide variety of aviation actors responded to the survey, ranging from strategic partners in air navigation to flight schools and from smaller airport operators to general aviation representatives. The overall rating for cooperation with Fintraffic Air Navigation Services this year was 3.8 (2022: 3.9). The majority of respondents were pilots, which is why this time the results focused particularly on daily cooperation between air traffic control and pilots.
General satisfaction with cooperation is at a good level
Satisfaction with cooperation with air navigation services has remained at a good level, receiving a score this year of 4.1 (2022: 4.2). Overall satisfaction is therefore at a good level, and positive feedback was received on topics such as the good services of network airports, the operations of the Airspace Management Cell (AMC), and the fulfilment of safety requirements.
“We are a customer service organisation in which each of our employees is also a customer service provider. We are satisfied with the fact that, despite our diverse field of operation, satisfaction with our customer service remains good across the whole company. Our customers feel that our customer service is friendly and that we are able to respond to their service needs. As a security-critical organisation, we are also very pleased with the survey results which indicate that our customers consider our services to be safe,” says Pasi Nikama, Senior Vice President at Fintraffic Air Navigation Services.
Some areas for development already being addressed through long-term development projects
In addition to the positive feedback, the survey also highlighted areas where cooperation needs to be improved, such as airspace management, air traffic flow management, and consideration of the needs of state and military aviation. Feedback on environment-related matters remained at the 2022 level, and feedback on environmental objectives and air traffic flow management were closely linked in the survey’s free-form responses. Some of the development feedback was not directly related to the operations of Fintraffic Air Navigation Services, but focused instead on the services provided by our partners.
“With some of the survey questions, there is some ambiguity as to whose duties and roles the issue relates – is it a matter for Fintraffic, airport operators or the authorities? For this reason, we also received some feedback on matters on which we do not have any direct influence,” Nikama explains.
In addition, the survey highlighted some development areas that are already being addressed, such as continuous descent approaches, the technical challenges of the CPDLC service, and cooperation between area control centres and Helsinki Air Traffic Control.
“We have actively tackled these development targets on the basis of surveys conducted in previous years, and work on them is proceeding at a good pace. These are nevertheless long-term development projects that require significant changes in operating models, in personnel training, and in how the system operates as a whole,” Suorto points out.
Customer satisfaction survey to be updated next year
In order to make better use of the results of the customer satisfaction survey in the development of the various air navigation service units, the contents of the survey and the processing process will be modified slightly next year.
“We will also rethink the questions from the respondents' perspective so that our customers will in future be able to give better feedback on the areas of air navigation that concern them,” Nikama says.
Based on the responses to the survey, it can be said that our customers continue to rate Fintraffic Air Navigation Services as good and safe.
“We have steadily performed our work at a good level, and I am satisfied with where we are right now. We are well set to continue working on our development targets so that we can better serve our customers in the future,” Nikama concludes.
