Iceland review - 2016, Qupperneq 64

62 ICELAND REVIEW ICELAND REVIEW 63
Remaining the best despite record traffic.
Keflavík International Airport (KEF) is
this year’s winner of ACI Europe’s
Best Airport Award among airports
with under five million passengers. This,
despite the fact that this year we’re re-
ceiving the largest number of tourists ever
traveling through the airport, an estimated
6.7 million—up from 4.8 million last year.
The prize is awarded for good results
in airport operation, taking into account
passenger service, facilities, shopping
and restaurant areas, security, communal
and environmental issues, operation of
runways, air traffic control and number of
destinations offered.
FAST ADJUSTMENT
We earned the award for a reason. Nev-
er before have passengers at Keflavík In-
ternational Airport had so many destina-
tions to choose from. Summer schedules
include 85 destinations, while during the
winter you have 58 to choose from.
To meet the challenge of record traffic,
we have massively increased the number
of staff in all areas from security to passen-
ger services and parking. Investments are
being made to increase automated ser-
vice, in addition to expanding the terminal
by 10,000 m2. A new baggage handling
system was adopted this year, much more
efficient that the one it replaced. Togeth-
er, they constitute an investment of about
ISK 15 billion (USD 122 million).
We have increased the number of
self-service check-in counters by 20, add-
ed five self-service baggage drop-off
units, as well as self-service boarding pass
checking gates. Moreover, an automated
tray handling system has been introduced
in security, and staff have received addi-
tional training, making it possible to serve
about 1,800 passengers an hour.
COLORFUL GUIDANCE
The arrivals area was enlarged by 800 m2,
and car rental counters were expanded
to accommodate more customers. The
welcome in the arrivals hall has been im-
proved with a new tourist information wall,
as well as a service desk, hosted by Isavia.
Finding your way around the airport
has never been so easy. We now have col-
or-coded signs, guaranteed to help you
find your flight fast. And to avoid all con-
fusion, we now have four times as many
agents in passenger services as we did last
year. Comfort comes first at the airport.
Therefore, we have installed hundreds of
EUROPE’S BEST AIRPORT
Gunnhildur Erla Vilbergsdóttir,
commercial manager.