CPH first airport to introduce new Service Level Agreement – an efficiency guarantee benefiting airlines

As the first airport in Europe, CPH has just introduced a new SLA as an offset of the latest EU directive on charges. The purpose is to optimise and ensure service levels for the passengers and airlines using the airport and to smooth all operational activities. This way a link between charges and service levels has been established in the sense that the participating airlines will be granted a partial refund of the charges if the airport does not live up to the committed service levels. All committed partners will strive to deliver an exceptional airport experience guaranteeing the users of the airport a minimum quality level.

The service areas included in the SLA are check-in, security, baggage inbound and outbound, turnaround, transfer and passenger satisfaction. These KPIs are build around a compensation structure created so all parties have incentive to reach performances and live up to the agreement. If CPH does not live up to the committed targets a de facto partial refund of charges will be transferred to the compensation system. This system rewards both airlines and ground handlers when living up to their targets following the incentive structure. If airlines and ground handlers do not live up to their targets they lose the possibility to receive these rewards, however they can never suffer economic penalty. The amount that they do not cash in will not be returned to the airport; rather it will be accumulated in an investment fund that can only be used for investments in corrective actions relating to enhancement of KPI performance.

With this agreement the airlines will hopefully experience a stronger connection between the service levels and the charges in CPH.