Tuesday, January 15, 2019

An Arabian Tarriance

Hi everyone,

After 3 years away in the Middle East, I’m back in New Zealand and back in the Parking Business again.  It was an education in the Middle East and over the next few weeks, I will detail some of the things I saw and learned while I was away.  Its sufficient to say that they do things differently there!

I managed Queen Alia International Airport parking while in Jordan.  Unknown to most Antipodeans, this is the number 1 airport in the region.  Yes, better rated than Dubai and wrangling for top spot with Abu Dhabi Airport.  QAIA were number 1, knew it and wanted to keep it that way.  The attention to detail and concentration on customer journeys was well known because of the stream of other airports visiting the site to see what they were doing so well.  QAIA parking was good.

I also spent time managing the car parking at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Not as efficient as their middle eastern cousins when it came to understanding how parking worked, how it linked into the passengers journey and how to optimise the resource.  A lot of the issues were the way the management and the procurement processes worked in the Kingdom.  This is a storyt for another time.

I’m happy to hear from all of the readers of this blog and its good to be home.

Kevin