Eccelsa Aviation at Olbia, Italy, narrowly missed out on first place this year, and has climbed considerably from its 2014 position of tenth. “Although this second place comes as a nice surprise, it is not such a big surprise,” says general manager Francesco Cossu. “We want to say thank you very much indeed for this beautiful award. I cannot say that we were expecting it, but what I can say is that we do work seriously hard every day and this kind of result comes as a great reward for the entire team and organisation as a whole.

“This also applies to those sitting in the back office and doing the administration; work which is 'invisible' but precious.

“To be positioned in the top five in this prestigious survey, in times like we are in now which are tough from an economic standpoint, is even better. We have to be careful about our staff, in terms of numbers. We can't really motivate them as much as we want to financially, as we may be able to do in good periods. Nevertheless, everybody gives their best and we definitely feel very proud to be up there.

“What we have done well so far – and this is one of the main principles we work on – is customer service. We really care about customer service, privacy, comfort and safety for our customers. We have to be 100 per cent supportive of our clients at all times. We love it when customers arrive at Olbia and feel at home.”

Cossu admits that he has to deal with a very demanding customer profile and says his chief duty is to ensure that clients land and depart without aggravations of any sort. “Nothing can be achieved without giving, with pure passion and professionalism, as much attention as we can and to add value to our customer service performances,” he adds. “This is paramount for us.”

Olbia is a very seasonal location: during the winter it experiences very few movements a day, while in summer it can have up to 150 or 170, including a record day of 196, with as many as 30 per hour. “This is extremely challenging for everybody and in such moments of delirium we need to set our performance at 110 per cent to be successful,” Cossu continues.

“But we constantly strive to improve with everybody: with the customers, with the crews, with everyone around them. Our customers must feel happy and relaxed and if they don't perceive our difficulties, it is even better.

Cossu points out that the environment sets the tone: “We have very nice infrastructure. Our facility is beautiful, it was well designed and is well organised, practical and customer friendly. We have a stylish canopy that hosts anything up to B737-900 size, right opposite the vvip main door. There are 10 hectares of aircraft parking right opposite the terminal, all entirely dedicated to private aviation.”

Eccelsa offers additional non-aviation services including several boutique brand shops, an eyewear store, selected local produce and delicatessen from around the world.

“Everybody in the operational team is well-trained and certified in whatever they do, and they are all people who do everything with true passion. When you are this busy every day in a row for six months, you have to make sure that everybody, despite tiredness and working long hours, continues to do everything with passion. This is the difference really,” concludes Cossu.