• Audelco has been the guarantor of compliance with international standards.

• Iberia’s Airport division has achieved this certification in just three months.

• The awarding of this certificate comes in the middle of the bidding process for handling tenders. People are one of the main pillars on which Iberia Airport Services has built its bid for the licences at 41 Spanish airports.

Iberia Airport Services, the Airports division of Iberia, has had its Health and Safety Management System certified in accordance with the ISO 45001:2018 standard, which guarantees compliance with these international standards.

The certification has been issued by AUDELCO, an entity specialised in auditing and certification of management systems, and a leader in Occupational Risk Prevention.

The fact of having a solid and consistent Health and Safety Management System in its work centres has allowed Iberia Airport Services to achieve this certification in a very short period of time, just three months.

AENA, in its tender for the handling tender, identified as a valuable element the availability of this certification as a guarantee that the handling activity complies with levels of health and safety for workers that are higher than those established in the Law on Occupational Risk Prevention. Celia Martínez Calderón, Director of People in the Airports area, added that “we considered that it was good not only to carry out our activities with optimum standards in terms of health and safety, but also to have them accredited by an independent body. And if it also complied with one of the additional requirements for Aena licences, double objective achieved”.

Iberia Airport Services has risk prevention professionals with extensive experience in the sector, and specifically in handling activities in the different national airports and delegations.

“Our historical presence in airports throughout Spain and this level of professionalism allows us to have risk assessments of all tasks, functions, equipment and facilities,” adds Martínez Calderón. “Operational and regulatory knowledge means that the adoption of preventive measures is appropriate and realistic to the needs observed. In addition to this, we have external collaborators who help us to find technological and innovative solutions,” he concludes.

Iberia Airport Services, leader in the Handling sector

Obtaining this Health and Safety Management certificate, endorsed by AUDELCO, has been directly linked to the ramp handling tenders called by Aena, in which Iberia Airport Services is competing with the aim of winning the licences at 41 airports.

The technical part of these tenders has been built on three verticals: innovation, sustainability and people, and in all three, Iberia Airport Services has submitted a very robust bid. In the people vertical, AENA has included requirements related, above all, to training and occupational health and safety.

About Iberia Airport Services: IBAS is Iberia’s airport division, which is dedicated to serving Iberia’s aircraft and passengers and those of more than 200 airline clients. It attends to passengers throughout their stay at the airport – check-in, boarding, arrivals, transits, incidents, special services… -, assists the aircraft on the ramp – sorting baggage, loading and unloading holds, reloading aircraft, providing tarmac service with its fleet of vehicles… – and dispatches flights. In 2022, it handled more than 88 million passengers, more than 300,000 aircraft and managed nearly 52 million pieces of luggage.

About AUDELCO: AUDELCO is an entity specialised in auditing and certification of management systems, being the first in the field of Occupational Risk Prevention, with definitive Administration Accreditation to carry out legal or regulatory audits of occupational risk prevention systems in accordance with R. D. 39/1997, with a national scope of action. Accredited by ENAC (Entidad Nacional de Acreditación) for the certification of occupational health and safety management systems in accordance with the ISO 45001 standard. It also audits at international level.

https://actualidadaeroespacial.com/iberia-airport-services-recibe-la-certificacion-iso-45001-de-su-sistema-de-gestion-de-seguridad-y-salud/

https://www.europapress.es/turismo/transportes/noticia-iberia-airport-services-recibe-certificacion-iso-sistema-gestion-seguridad-salud-20230315123743.html

https://www.hangarx.com.ar/2023/03/iberia-airport-services-recibe-la-certificacion-iso-45001/

https://www.vuela.com.mx/am/aviacion-comercial/14355-iberia-airport-services-recibe-la-certificaci%C3%83%C2%B3n-iso-45001.html

https://www.preferente.com/noticias-de-transportes/noticias-de-aerolineas/iberia-nuevo-impulso-a-su-candidatura-en-el-handling-de-aena-325633.html

Corinne Martínez, Susana Espinosa and Teresa Gutiérrez share their trajectory and the challenges they face as heads of scale.

Traveling is a pleasure that we can enjoy thanks to the work of professionals like those at Iberia. Their daily work means that we can not worry from the moment we arrive at the airport and leave our bags until we pick them up to start a new adventure.

[The woman behind the commercial success of the most profitable airline in Europe: María Jesús López]

This March 8, International Women’s Day, it is worth noting the work done by the women of the company. Since 2018, as we already have at magasIN, Iberia has launched initiatives to make female talent visible and promote the presence of women (SDG 5) at all levels.

To find out about their work, today we are talking to three Iberia stopover managers who do not talk about their career, their work, the challenges they face every day, the challenges they have overcome, and we take the opportunity to ask them for advice on traveling that they have learned thanks to to your experience.

The three heads of scale

Corinne Martínez is the manager of the San Sebastián, Vitoria and Pamplona airports, María Susana Espinosa Guardiola of the Ibiza airport and Teresa Gutiérrez Rodríguez is the manager of the La Palma airport.

None of them had thought when they were little that they would end up working in an airport. “When I was little, for me aviation was always related to vacations. And yes, the truth is that I have always liked the hustle and bustle of airports,” says Martínez.

For his part, Espinosa confessed to magasIN that he entered Iberia at the age of 18 and had never been on a plane, “but I have to admit that the world of aviation captivated me from the first moment.” Along the same lines, Gutiérrez points out that “as soon as you meet him, he hooks you up.”

They explain to us that in their work they carry out various functions that include planning and organizing human and material resources, carrying out handling (operations related to passenger transport) to the assisted companies, maintaining relations with and representing the assisted companies and ensuring compliance with safety and quality requirements by staff and subcontractors.

In addition, they emphasize that it is common in Iberia to see women in their positions. In fact, Martínez says that the last two heads of scale with whom he has worked were women. Espinosa points out that she has been on scales in which all managers were.

“When I took over as service manager in 2001, I joined a three-man team with a generation gap of approximately 20 years, but I must say that it was a great experience and I remember it very fondly,” says Gutiérrez.

Both for the manager of the San Sebastián, Vitoria and Pamplona airports, and for the manager of the Ibiza airport, the biggest challenge they face is that every day is a challenge. “A multitude of factors affect us, from the weather to a breakdown. Everything can have an impact,” says Martínez.

Gutiérrez tells us that the biggest challenge for her is “getting the motivation of each team member, so that they feel they are a fundamental part of being able to meet the expectations of our client companies.”

For them, one of the biggest challenges they have faced in their career is the change of scale. “When you already control the peculiarities of your airport, you have created links with your team, starting in a new city with new colleagues and a different operation enriches you a lot, but it is still a challenge,” says Corinne Martínez.

To this, Susana Espinosa adds that in Ibiza it is a great challenge to have enough staff. “The high rental prices make it very difficult for workers to come from the peninsula and on the island there is a large supply of work and little demand.” Although, for Teresa Gutiérrez, the biggest challenge has been dealing with the management of the pandemic and the volcanic eruption.

On the other hand, one of the best aspects of his job is the team. “The human quality of the teams at Iberia continues to surprise me on a daily basis,” says Martínez. Espinosa points out that two days are never the same. “You can go from spending a day without leaving the office planning to go to an audit of an assisted company. Sometimes it’s a bit stressful, but I love it.”

We continue talking with the three heads of scale, one by one, to find out about their trajectory, the particularities of their work and we ask them for advice on traveling.

The weather of north

Corinne Martínez arrived in Spain, after two years studying Medicine, to learn Spanish. In Alicante he found out about the Iberia entrance exams as an administrative officer and he applied. “I started in passenger service, then I was responsible for quality of the environment and relations with companies, then responsible for operational safety and, finally, head of scale since 2019.”

Currently, he is the manager of the northern airports, where the weather has a great impact. “Unscheduled activity is very important at all three airports, which requires very significant adaptability and flexibility. Still, each airport is unique.”

He explains that San Sebastián is the most seasonal, going from having three destinations in winter to nine in summer. “We also handle quite a few private flights as a major pick-up during the film festival.”

In Pamplona the activity is quite regular, although they have a peak in the San Fermines. The one in Vitoria is the only 24-hour airport in the entire region, so it has a lot of night activity, “especially with sports flights from La Liga soccer and La Liga ABC basketball.”

His travel advice: “Buying through each company’s website is the best way to be properly informed of any changes in real time.”

The summer in Ibiza

Susana Espinosa studied Law at the University of Alicante and practiced as a lawyer for several years. “I combined my studies with working at the Alicante airport as an administrative agent in the passenger area.”

In 2002 she was appointed head of the Passenger Unit. “From there I added to my responsibilities the areas of coordination and assistance to the plane, until I was appointed head of stopover in Alicante in 2013.” In 2015 she was transferred to Malaga with the same position and since 2018 she has held it at the Ibiza airport.

This is the airport with the highest seasonality in the world. “The difference is enormous, but not only at the airport, but throughout the island. The turning point is the opening and closing dates of the nightclubs, which take place between April and October,” he comments.

Activity is multiplied by four in summer, going from a daily average of 18 flights to 85. The number of workers also varies, according to the number of flights served. “In fact, the most widespread contractual figure is that of the discontinuous landline, who always works in the high season.”

Seasonality is decisive in his work. In low season they are dedicated to preparing the high season. “Starting in February and March, the companies that are going to fly in the summer begin to contact us to update procedures and from Easter the activity gradually increases, reaching its maximum level in August. Those months we are all very focused on daily operations, which is usually quite complicated.”

His advice for traveling: “Get your boarding pass well in advance. That way you can secure your seat and go to the airport with more peace of mind.” In addition, he stresses that “you have to travel with companies that guarantee good care if something unforeseen arises, for example, delays or cancellations.”

Erupting volcano

Teresa Gutiérrez has a degree in English Philology. He started at Iberia at La Palma airport in April 1988 as an administrative agent. At that time, the first charter flights began to operate at this airport.

“From then on they sent me to different training courses, both in the passenger area and in the cargo sheet and coordination, since in small airports like this the staff is versatile,” he says. Two years later, she was offered to assume the duties of supervisor and, later, head of service. Finally, in 2008, he accepted the duties of manager of this airport.

His work was greatly affected by the eruption of the La Palma volcano. “I remember it as a very difficult stage, not only in the management of the operation, but also of the people.”

She was in charge of coordinating the necessary actions with the airport manager for the flight operation to be carried out. Also informing the client companies on a daily basis of the status of the platform and almost daily planning the necessary resources to attend to incidents or for the operation of flights if the situation allowed.

The decisions that were then made were many: “Notify the pilots so that they report to the tower the state of the ash on the approach and that the tower report it to us. Record the landing of the first flight to check if it raised a trail of ash. Review the cleaning of steps and platform first thing in the morning, before the arrival of the first plane”.

“Check the individual protection equipment that each employee had to use. In addition, an alternative was sought to protect the aircraft assistance equipment from volcanic ash and it was decided to avoid, as far as possible, split schedules for personnel who lived on the side of the volcano to minimize the risk on the road, among many others,” he adds.

The most difficult thing for her was trying to put aside the worry and uncertainty that a natural disaster like this generates “in order to concentrate on work.” Also trying to keep the spirits of the workers in the middle of something that they did not know how or when it was going to end.

Facing future emergencies, he emphasizes that they learned the first measures to carry out to minimize the risks to people and aircraft.

His advice for travel: “Arriving early enough will avoid unnecessary stress and make you enjoy the trip. Another tip is not to put important items such as documentation or medicines in your checked baggage. And it is very important to identify your checked baggage.”

Iberia Airport Services, Iberia’s airports division, has a lot at stake these days. It has presented its tender for the provision of handling operations in Spain’s 41 airports. Its best assets are its capacity for innovation, its investment in achieve zero net emissions by 2025 and the experience of its team.

Today, International Women’s Day, we want to give a voice to four great women who work at the airport, at the foot of the planes, who tell us about their experience in a man’s world.They classify and load your bags, take you from the terminal to the plane and de-ice it when necessary.

Do you want to know more?