UPDATED CERTIFIED SERVICE PROVIDER PROGRAM ADOPTED TO ENSURE QUALITY STANDARDS AND IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners today adopted a significantly improved Certified Service Provider Program (CSPP) that establishes minimum requirements for companies that provide certain services to airlines, airline consortiums, or other aviation tenants at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). 

The program identifies and establishes minimum equipment and training standards for service providers conducting certain business activities at LAX; establishes enforcement guidelines with penalties; defines the decertification procedure for companies not complying with the program; addresses labor harmony issues; and establishes fees to administer the program.

The program applies to companies that provide services including:  directly to passengers such as wheelchairs and baggage handling; on the ramp; interior aircraft cleaning; security; into-plane fueling; cargo and dangerous goods handling for both passenger and dedicated freight aircraft; aeronautical maintenance; and in terminals. For the most part, airline carriers are exempt from the program.  The CSPP applies to fixed-base operators (FBOs) only if an FBO provides services outside its leased premises.

The Certified Service Provider Program does NOT replace requirements already covered by regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, and terms and conditions of airline and labor contracts.       

The CSPP establishes a license agreement between service providers and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the Los Angeles City department that owns and operates LAX, that allows the companies to access the airport and conduct business.  The program allows LAWA staff to monitor and regulate a company’s compliance with LAWA’s minimum standards, and gives LAWA the right to require corrective actions and to impose penalties up to and including terminating the company’s license agreement.  LAWA’s minimum standards include:  LAX rules and regulations, compliance officer; training requirements and minimum staffing; customer service; equipment and motor vehicles; administrative requirements; emergency preparedness; labor harmony language; and applicable contractor responsibility program requirements.

Today’s approval follows numerous meetings LAWA staff held with the airlines, service providers and labor unions to develop a mutually agreeable program and to gain consensus for the proposed standards and enforcement measures. Representatives of airline consortiums, labor unions and businesses at LAX spoke on behalf of the new policy and program 

On a related matter, the Board also approved the establishment of a rate methodology and fees for the Certified Service Provider Program.