Dubai Airport Customer Service Design

Shifting the front-line teams from operations to hospitality

Dubai Airport is one of the largest in the world; with 70% of those passing through it connecting from one flight to another, it meant staff played a critical role in ensuring flights were caught on time and passengers were able to make the most of their time whilst in transit. In collaboration with strategy and operational teams Engine Service Design developed a new, passenger-centred, service style called ‘Arabian Hospitality’ and supporting operational guidelines that would raise the level of service passengers would receive. Engine also redesigned the staff learning experience and provided support on the ground to embed the new service behaviours.

A refreshed approach to passenger information

To support the improvement of customer service, Engine Service Design experts also reviewed passenger information across the airport and developed a series of enhanced information products, to supplement the existing wayfinding; these have now become part of the information standard. The design work involved developing more high impact visual signage and creating improved landmarks and maps that enables passengers to make quick decisions. We also developed a digital application for supporting staff and the passengers throughout their airport journey.

Project to programme

Once developed the Engine Service Design Team worked with Dubai Airports implementation partners, to design and manage the production and the delivery of the training and the ‘on-the-job coaching’. In parallel, developing the piloting plan for the airport to measure the impact once the new information products and services were in place; this allowed Dubai Airports and Engine to understand how these changes were performing and make adjustments as necessary. The pilot ran for 3 months, after which results were reported upon and an airport-wide roll-out was given the green light.