Air Malta has been awarded the ISO 9001-2000 certification for its airside ground handling services by Moody International Certification Ltd.

The ISO certificate was presented to Air Malta chairman Lawrence Zammit by Moody's country manager, Ing. Paul Cardona.

Air Malta's Ground Handling Department provides airside ground handling to all commercial aircraft flying in and out of the country.

The wide range of services includes transporting passengers to and from aircraft, loading and off-loading of baggage and freight as well as the cleaning of aircraft cabins.

The certification was awarded after an extensive audit of the operational processes and standards of the department and its Quality Management System carried out by Moody.

The audit covered the new Quality Manual and Standard Operating Procedures that were drawn up by the department to ISO 9001-2000 specifications, covering the processes involved in providing its services. Quality has been included as a standard part of the annual training given to ground handling department staff.

In the preparatory phase, Air Malta was assisted by Tanti and Mallia Quality Consultants.

Mr Zammit expressed the airline's satisfaction at having reached ISO standards in this area.

"The operations process that goes into servicing all the commercial aircraft that fly in and out of Malta is indeed extensive.

"I am placing a clear emphasis on maintaining standards. We will be carrying out internal audits of the standards that we have reached and will be subject to regular audits by Moody's to ensure that we will be able to retain our ISO certification."