The term ‘quality’ is currently used to refer to that fundamental component that drives any type of organisation toward the guarantee of success. That is why quality has become one of the chief measures of a company’s worth and why increasingly it has become the key differentiating factor in any and all sectors of business.
ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, SA, aware of the importance of this issue, broke new ground when it implemented a Quality Assurance System in the early 1980s, a pioneering step for a company in the Service Industry in Portugal. The presuppositions that underlie ANA’s Quality Assurance Policy can be expressed as the pledge “to provide services in its airports that guarantee exemplary high standards as seen internationally, primarily in terms of safety and operations, such that we satisfy or exceed the expectations of customers and maximise their benefits, and at the same time promote an atmosphere of motivation amongst the staff.”
The Quality Management System employed at ANA, which is based on the application of clear and exacting rules, has been responsible for the continual growth in customer satisfaction levels. It is a management tool that works as a mobilising element for enhancements and improvements directed toward the customer, the staff and the stockholders. Currently, the Quality Management System, duly certified by APCER in accordance with ISSO 9001:2000, is in place at the airports of Faro and the Azores. However, ANA intends to expand the system to include all airports by the end of 2006. Applying the Quality Management Systems more widely represents a decisive step forward in the process of consolidating the company as a leading Airport Management Group in terms of quality, profitability, and the full utilisation of new business opportunities.
