Identifying the most appealing service improvements for Heathrow Airport
Background
Ahead of the Civil Aviation Authority’s H7 price review, Heathrow Airport wanted to understand the most desirable service package with current travellers at Heathrow and potential future users flying from the airport. Four distinct service packages had been developed by Heathrow Airport, and research was required to evaluate the relative appeal of each option and to understand whether implementation of the improvements had the potential to increase traveller numbers.
Approach
We adopted a multi-stage approach incorporating a ‘Sprint’ two-phase qualitative element of 60 depth interviews to ensure service packages were thoroughly tested. These were followed by a large-scale quantitative study with 1,500 existing users at Heathrow – recruited in airport – and 2,000 potential users via an online panel.
Results
The findings helped Heathrow Airport understand the preferred service configuration and, interestingly, there was little difference between current and potential users in terms of the appeal of the service developments. The research discovered that there would be very high anticipated increased use of Heathrow if potential users’ preferred package was delivered, suggesting a very positive response to Heathrow Airport’s proposed plans.