The International Air Transport Association (IATA) re-issued the ISAGO certificate to Lithuanian ground handling company Baltic Ground Services (BGS) - confirming the company’s compliance with the industry’s globally accepted and recognized safety standards.
2 years ago, Baltic Ground Services was awarded the ISAGO certificate confirming the successful completion of the audit of all ground handling processes at Vilnius and Kaunas airports.
The Lithuanian company was the first ground handler in Europe and tenth in the world to receive an ISAGO certificate. Today, there are currently 50 ground handling companies registered under ISAGO and operating at more than 68 airports worldwide.
ISAGO (IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations) is an audit programme launched in 2008 by IATA for ground handling companies and airlines, it includes a set of internationally recognized standards covering the management and control system of ground handling processes at both the corporate and station levels.
"In accordance with the requirements, every two years IATA verifies our compliance with the requirements of the ISAGO program - this year, the re-issued certificate indicates that we maintain the highest level of safety and airline companies we serve at Vilnius airport receive ground handling services that conform to internationally recognized standards," said Saulius Batavičius, CEO of Baltic Ground Services.
BGS‘s organizational system and document management has been evaluated against 119 standards: auditors examined whether the provider of ground handling services ensures a level of safety consistent with recent practice in this field of services.
In addition, an audit of ground handling operations was carried out at Vilnius airport. During the audit, BGS performance was evaluated against 212 standards. This part of the audit assessed the process management system, passenger service, and acceptance to their luggage at the airport, luggage transportation, aircraft loading control, aircraft maintenance and loading, ground movement of vehicles, cargo and mail loading and other factors.
ISAGO standard offers benefits to airlines, ground handling companies, supervisory authorities, and airport managers. Compliance with this safety program brings standardization in ground handling processes, reduces the number of accidents, requires less additional audit operations, reduces costs, unifies standards, and ensures greater safety and higher quality standards. In addition, high-risk areas are evaluated in the provision of ground handling services.