Before becoming the top executive at LaGuardia Airport’s recently renovated Terminal B, Suzette Noble spent two years working for the Walt Disney
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Noble speaks differently than airline people do. She defined her role as “sharpening the experiential component of our guests’ journey.” In describing the journey from the curb to the gate, she spoke of a space, just after clearing security, “where they can recompose.” That space includes tables where guests can sit.
“One of the cool parts of B is that we’ve tried to reduce the friction points, with consistent delivery of service and very clear communication at each tough point – the check-in kiosks, ticket counters, security,” she said.
Does the airline industry benefit from viewing people as “guests” rather than “passengers?” It has certainly gained from the widely applauded $4 billion Terminal B upgrade. According to the J.D. Power 2023 North America Airport Satisfaction Survey, released today, “The LaGuardia construction project results in massive jump in passenger satisfaction.”
Noble was involved in the project as chief operating officer of manager and developer LaGuardia Gateway Partners or LGP, a post she assumed in 2021. On Sept. 1, she was promoted to CEO.
As COO, “I was more involved in executing objectives,” she said. “Now I think more about the future and how we continue at this level. “Now that we have put together the hardware of the beautiful new terminal, I have the opportunity to layer on the software.”
A native of Trinidad, Noble grew up in Orlando, home of Disney subsidiary Walt Disney World. She left Disney at the end of 2017 and tried a few guest experience/hospitality industry jobs before joining Charlotte-based Krispy Kreme in 2019, working first as project lead for the doughnut company’s New York entry and then as division vice president for U.S. operations.
In coming to New York, “We had a bit of an interruption called Covid,” she said. “We opened the market during challenging times. The company held firm to stay open. The creativity and resiliency helped me as an executive. And it’s been warmly received. What Krispy Kreme brought is freshness and quality of product.”
Does Terminal B have some of that? “Under Noble’s leadership, Terminal B has centered on delivering an exceptional experience for all stakeholders, maximizing commercial revenue, and implementing processes and metrics designed to uphold the terminal’s internationally recognized guest experience,” LGP said in a prepared statement.
Besides the post-security tables, the new terminal is airy and light, embellished with high grade security and ticketing technology and public art, and stocked with local food and beverage purveyors.
In today’s report, J.D. Power recognized the improvement. “Many of the top performing airports in the study have one thing in common: recently completed construction and redevelopment projects that have improved passenger flow, parking and terminal facilities,” the firm said. “Nowhere is the positive effect of capital improvement clearer than in New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which has climbed from dead last in passenger satisfaction in 2019 to reach the large airport segment average this year.”
It’s a big change from 2014, when then Vice President Joe Biden said of LaGuardia that a visitor relieved of a blindfold would say, “I must be in some third world country.”
In March, Terminal B was recognized by Skytrax, a London-based transport rating firm, which ranked it as the world’s best new airport terminal. Terminal B is the first terminal in North America to receive a five-star airport terminal rating. “One of our challenges is that we’ve reached five-star rating from Skytrax,” Noble said. “What does five-plus-star look like going forward? How do we continue to make that better?
LGP, which won a bid issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to redevelop Terminal B, is composed of four partners including Vancouver, B.C.-based Vantage Airport Group. Frank Scremin, Noble’s predecessor as CEO, became vice president of global services at Vantage.
Work on Terminal B began in 2016 and was completed on July 8, 2022, the exact day specified in a bond offering six years earlier. The terminal has 35 gates. Primary occupant American Airlines has 18 of them. JetBlue, Southwest, United and Air Canada also have gates.
Noble said she now resides in Flushing. She has become a Mets fan, she said, and last week she attended the U.S. Open women’s finals and watched Coco Gauff win the championship.
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