NAIA Terminal 1 awarded ISO Certificate

03/20/2009

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 yesterday received the International Standard Organization (ISO) 9001:2000 Certificate from the Anglo-Japanese American (AJA) Registrar for meeting the global standards in airport service.

“We’re grateful for this award,” said Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi who cited the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for taking the lead in systems improvement at the airport, making the ISO certification possible.

“We’re lucky to have Commissioner Marcelino Libanan heading the BI. Under Commissioner Libanan, the BI at NAIA has shown dramatic improvements, especially in the speedy processing of passports and other travel documents,” Cusi added.

Cusi said the ISO certification was achieved after years of continuing commitment to quality performance, measuring how an organization meets the needs of their customers.

Recent studies of the International Civil Aviation Organization showed that the 45-second documents-processing of the BI at the NAIA was even faster than the standards set by the ISO for major international airports.

“We already reached that status where passenger flow would go unimpeded and no longer be bothered by unexpected procedures or measures,” Cusi said. “The changes posted by the BI at the airports improved the passenger traffic at the terminal.”

Cusi also thanked the airport officials for helping him redeem the premier airport from its negative image due to the malpractices of some erring employees in the past.

He said after accepting the ISO certification, the traveling public would now be expecting more in terms of quality service and improved operations.

In return, Cusi said he expects that from now on some foreigners would show respect to airport officials, such as those from Customs and Immigration who were normally subjected to verbal insults for real or imagined blunder and oversight.

“We will put up signs in different languages informing foreigners that verbally or physically assaulting Immigration or Customs officers is against the law,” Cusi said.

The ISO certification was awarded by AJA after the NAIA went through Phase I audit of the passenger facilitation processes. This effort was undertaken with 13 airport agencies whose functions directly involve passenger handling. Each agency is represented by a Quality Management System.

Phase 2 of the certification process will involve the audit of MIAA support services to the Phase I process, namely, engineering, operations, safety and security, and finance and administration.

ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standard organizations. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Conrado Ching

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