Eagle awards for Manchester Airport and LFV of Sweden

Paris, June 5 (UNI) The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today awarded its prestigious 2006 Eagle Awards to Manchester Airport plc and the Air Navigation Services Division of LFV of Sweden.

Special Recognition was given to the Performance Review Commission of EUROCONTROL.

Eagle Awards honour outstanding achievements by airports and air navigation service providers using the criteria of value for money, a spirit of continuous improvement and dedication to customer service.

"We are in a race to a low cost industry and all our industry partners must be on board. Our driving force this year has been benchmarking of the performance and cost effectiveness of airports and air navigation service providers" said IATA's Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.

Manchester Airport plc was awarded the Eagle Award for its high level of performance agreed to in service level agreements with its customers. Over the last four years, Manchester Airport reduced the average cost per passenger by 38 per cent and has significantly bettered the maximum price caps set by the UK's independent regulator.

The Air Navigation Services Division of LFV (Sweden) achieved efficiencies that enabled it to reduce its unit rate by 17 per cent in 2006.

It has achieved average annual reductions of 6.6 per cent in each of the last four years.

The Performance Review Commission (PRC) provides a strong, transparent and independent performance review and target-setting system for the 36 EUROCONTROL states. This has resulted in much better understanding of customer concerns and requirements, as well as the cost drivers within the business.

UNI SU ARB PM1941