Hamad International Airport (HIA) has been awarded the ISO 55001:2014 certification, the international standard for asset management, making Qatar’s airport the first in the Middle East to achieve the accreditation from the British Standards Institution (BSI). 
The prestigious certificate was presented to HIA chief operating officer Badr al-Meer by BSI Group assurance director Pietro Foschi at the BSI office in London in the presence of Michael McMillan, vice president (facilities management) at HIA. 
This accreditation comes hot on the heels of HIA being ranked ‘5th Best Airport in the World’ at last week’s Skytrax World Airport Awards 2018. HIA was also honoured with the title of ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ and was named ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’. 
HIA’s duty free offering was also recognised, with the airport being ranked the ‘4th Best Airport for Shopping’ in the world. 
The BSI ISO 55001 is a framework for an asset management system that enables the business to proactively manage the life cycle of its assets, from acquisition to decommissioning. 
This system provides for the management of risks and costs associated with the operation and maintenance of assets in a structured and efficient manner that supports continual improvement and maximises the value of asset management.
HIA was ISO 55001 certified after an independent verification process was conducted by a BSI-appointed audit team. The airport currently has 37,613 assets within the scope of HIA Asset Management System, with plans to increase the scope for another 50,012 assets.
Al-Meer said, “Being the first airport in the Middle East to receive the 55001:2014 certification from BSI shows Hamad International Airport’s continuous drive to deliver excellence in safety and passenger experience across the airport, through best practice management of physical assets and infrastructure.” 
HIA has also implemented its asset management policy within its organisation, encouraging its staff members, stakeholders and partners to embrace their responsibility to take care of the airport’s physical assets and infrastructure. 
McMillan said, “It is HIA’s ambition to demonstrate asset management leadership within the airport operations and management business. We have adopted an asset management system to prevent catastrophic failure of our assets and continually improve our asset management performance. This involves always complying with relevant legislation, regulations and standards.”
HIA said it aims to reduce the risk of asset failure, which could adversely impact the airport’s business objectives, reduce the life cycle cost of assets, all while achieving asset performance at optimum service levels for our customers.
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