Iberia Sets a New Benchmark as the First Travel Company to Achieve 3 Aenor Certifications

(Credit: Iberia Group)

Iberia Airport Services is a leader in innovation, as evidenced by its possession of three Aenor certificates. It is the first company in the travel industry and the first airline globally to hold these certificates simultaneously. In Spain, only three companies have earned all three UNE certifications, and Iberia is one of them.

The UNE is a certification program that aims to standardize processes and set requirements for organizations based on each type of standard. Iberia has earned three UNE certificates of innovation, which endorse its innovative, surveillance, and intelligence management system, as well as its ability to transfer its own intellectual property to a third party.

Iberia Airport Services is at the forefront of digitalization and innovation in the handling sector. The acquisition of these innovation UNEs is linked to the ramp handling tenders organized by Aena, in which Iberia Airport Services is competing for licenses at 41 airports.

The technical aspect of these tenders is based on three pillars: innovation, sustainability, and people, and Iberia Airport Services has submitted a comprehensive proposal for all three. Specifically, in the innovation domain, Iberia Airport Services has provided not only projects and commitments that surpass Aena's requirements, but also these three UNE certificates, which were achieved in an expedited manner and required compliance with Aenor's rigorous process, involving other departments within the airline such as Operations, Safety and Quality, Sustainability, and Transformation.

UNE Standards with Which Aenor has Certified Innovation in Iberia:

• 166002 RD&I Management Systems Certification: The UNE certification includes guidelines and practical requirements for creating and executing RD&I policies, setting goals aligned with the specific activities, products, and services of each organization, and identifying untapped and emerging technologies in the industry. The assimilation and transfer of these technologies will serve as the foundation for creating new projects, improving products, processes, and services, and boosting competitiveness.
• 166006 Surveillance and Intelligence System: The UNE certification ensures that Iberia regularly performs a comprehensive analysis of its competition, the broader economic environment, and the latest technological and innovative advancements in the market and society. It also confirms that decisions are based on these analyses and that the company employs surveillance and intelligence as critical tools for managing its innovation. Innovation enhances the organization's access to and management of scientific, technical, legislative, regulatory, economic, market, and social information.
• 166008 Technology Transfer: The UNE certification verifies that the organization meets all necessary requirements to transfer the technology resulting from an innovation effort to a third-party company.

According to Nacho Tovar, the Director of Innovation and Digital Transformation at Iberia, “having obtained the three UNE certificates in just four months not only certifies the innovation management system that we were already developing at Iberia; it has also helped us to raise our innovation model to an optimal level of demand that enhances synergies and leads change within the company.”