Clark International Airport passes audit for ISO certification

MANILA, Philippines – The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) has been certified to be at par with worldwide industrial and commercial management system standards in the area of international passenger facilitation at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).

CIAC is the operating arm of DMIA that caters to foreign and local carriers operating international and domestic flights out of Clark.

According to CIAC corporate planning manager and International Organization Standardization (ISO) quality management representative Darwin Cunanan, CIAC passed the conformity audit conducted by TUV Rheinland Philippines for ISO 9001:2008 certification.

ISO 9000 refers to a set of quality management standards that includes three quality standards, namely ISO 9000:2005 (QMS fundamentals and vocabulary), ISO 9001:2008 (QMS requirements and certifiable standard), and ISO 9004:2009 (guidelines for performance improvements). All three are process standards. The purpose of ISO is to facilitate international trade by providing a single set of standards that people everywhere would recognize and respect.

The ISO 9001:2008 certification which CIAC obtained specified the auditable requirements and focuses on establishing, implementing, and maintaining quality management systems, including processes for continual improvement. Its main thrust is to enable a structured and managed approach towards customer satisfaction.

TUV Rheinland is a global leader in the certification of management systems with 490 offices in 61 countries. It is headquartered in Cologne, Germany.

The Stage 1 audit conducted last Dec. 21 involved an assessment of CIAC’s compliance with the general documentation requirements, management commitment, customer focus, quality policy and planning. Meanwhile, the Stage 2 audit last Feb. 10-11 focused on the adherence by CIAC, airlines and other national agencies operating in DMIA with the service level agreements and service excellence standards entered into by CIAV authorities with officials of these agencies and airlines.

Cunanan said the conformity audit or assessment conducted by TUV Rheinland showed that CIAC measures up to the quality management system standards in the field of international passenger facilitation at the DMIA based on specifications of ISO 9001:2008.

Meanwhile, CIAC vice president for operations and business development and current ISO general manager Romeo Dyoco Jr. said the scope of ISO 9001:2008 involves passenger facilitation where it aims to deliver better quality services to international travelers and passengers at the DMIA which is bustling with international and domestic flights being provided by foreign and local air carriers.

The ISO program for DMIA started January last year with the involvement of the different carriers operating there including Asiana Airlines, Air Asia Berhad, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific Air, as well as government agencies such as the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG), Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Quarantine, Department of Health (DOH), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Bureau of Plants and Animal Industry. Also part of the project are ground handlers like Miascor and Clark Airport Support Services Corp.