Air Macau wins international quality service award
Updated at 5.32pm: Air Macau - the state-owned regional airline based in Macau - has won a top award for customer service.
Xinhua reported on Friday that the airline had been awarded the ISO9001 Standard of Quality Certificate.
Handrik Homan, a representative of the International Quality Certification Centre said: 'The ISO9001:2000 certificate is an internationally recognised standard for high-quality services and Air Macau is now [complying with] that standard.'
Airline general manager Fei Hongjun said the certificate would help the airline improve service even more.
Established in 1995, Air Macau is 51 per cent owned by China National Aviation Corp, which also controls Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, the territory's second-biggest carrier.
It carried 2.1 million passengers and 150,000 tonnes of airfreight last year.
The airline has played an important role in transporting passengers across the Taiwan Strait. It makes more than 100 round trip fights between Macau and Taipei-Kaohsiung every week.
Last year, it was forced to surrender its monopoly in the market, which brought benefits for two local budget carriers in a more open operating environment. Viva Macau and Macau Asia Express are preparing to start operations.
The former is scheduled to begin flights in June. Macau Asia Express is expected to begin operations in the fourth quarter.
