The Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) is to be awarded the prestigious Airports Council International (ACI) — Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Award for the Most Improved Airport in Latin America and the Caribbean Region for 2015.

Airports Council International recognises the world’s airports which have achieved the highest passenger satisfaction ratings in the ASQ survey, the world’s premier passenger service benchmark measure of airport excellence.

Senior director of commercial development and planning, Alfred McDonald, said that it was the first time that NMIA was being recognised by ASI-ASQ in this manner.

He said that in assessing the areas for improvement, NMIA did an upgrade of the air conditioning system, conducted customer service training in a number of areas, and worked at getting all players in the operations of the airport involved in excellent service delivery.

“We had discussions with our passenger-processing partners to ensure that the level of service delivery was at a level that would be pleasing to our customers, so we did a lot of work in getting everybody on board and delivering the kind of service that was recognised by ACI,” he explained.

The airport is also enjoying a rise in the ACI-ASQ rankings as the number two airport in the region for the fourth quarter of 2015, following its recent number three ranking for quarters two and three of 2015.

Acting president and chief executive officer of the Airports Authority of Jamaica, Audley Deidrick, said that NMIA has overcome challenges since the construction of the airport, which led to consistent improvements in the rankings over the past year and lauded the key players in airport operations.

“We want to recognise our partners who impacted the stakeholders experience. These include porter services, concessionaires, airlines, ground transportation providers, hoteliers, security providers, the meteorological service, and the ministries of health and agriculture for the role they play on a daily basis in the success of the airport,” he said.

He added that the contribution of the airport’s two major passenger processing partners — the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) and the Customs Department — was significant and played an important role in the overall passenger experience.

Deidrick also commended the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority for its role.

The other winners in the Most Improved Category were Nairobi Airport in Kenya, for Africa; Istanbul Airport, Turkey, for Europe; Denpasar Airport in Indonesia, for Asia-Pacific; Damman Airport in Saudi Arabia, for the Middle East; and Saskatoon Airport in Canada, for North America.

ACI, the trade association of the world’s airports, was founded in 1991 with the objective of fostering co-operation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association, and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation.