City looks to enhance customer experience with airport improvement funding

By medicinehatnews on August 5, 2021.

With $583,480 from Western Economic Diversification Canada’s Regional Air Transportation Initiative to support critical improvements at the Lethbridge Airport, the City of Lethbridge looks to enhance the customer experience.
“We are really excited about the improvements included in this grant as they are very much focused on making the Lethbridge Airport more viable for airlines and their passengers,” said Michael Kelly, City of Lethbridge’s general manager of Opportunity Lethbridge in a release. “We’ve been able to make a lot of very important upgrades to the airport in recent months that are behind the scenes, but these will be very public facing to our community.”
Key supported activities supported by the funding include installing a common use terminal system that Canada’s main air carriers already use at other airports, lowering route start-up costs as airlines wouldn’t be required to provide and maintain terminal system equipment, provide tech support or system upgrades.
A self-check-In kiosk system will provide passengers with access to boarding pass and bag tag service through the use of self-check in kiosks, while a baggage system upgrade will upgrade the existing insert only baggage system with a rotating baggage carousel. 
The upgrade will prevent bag jams during deplaning, free up baggage handlers to conduct faster aircraft turnarounds, lower operating cost for the airlines and provide a better customer experience for public.
Powered mobile wheelchairs/pushers will assist passengers with mobility challenges in getting on and off of airplanes and will also increase safety for both the passenger and airline staff.
Other features include the installing of a visual paging system to assist passengers with hearing disabilities as well as passengers that may have been distracted and missed their message.
The system will provide an additional layer of customer service and could help decrease delays and customer experience issues.    
“Strengthening our Airport has been a priority for City Council,” said Mayor Chris Spearman in a release. “We know this is vital to the economic development of not just the City of Lethbridge but all of southern Alberta. We are extremely grateful to Western Economic Diversification Canada for this funding and for all of the grant funding we have received to date towards this important project for our community.”
Previous to this announcement, Lethbridge City Council invested $2.6 million which was leveraged to secure $23 million in Provincial and Federal funding. 
The funds are helping eliminate safety risks, fast-track critical projects and position the airport for pandemic recovery.
These newly announced customer enhancements are expected to be completed by March 31, 2022. For more information on this funding announcement visit: https://bit.ly/3joD5wV

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