Malta International Airport and Air Malta have commenced a series of language courses for their respective employees directed towards the ongoing improvement of customer service.

The first series of courses will be in the French and German languages and will be conducted by NSTS. Around 100 employees from both organisations will be attending this first series of language courses, grouped in different classes at both MIA and Air Malta premises.

Addressing a news conference to launch the initiative, MIA’s CEO Peter Bolech said that the idea behind the language courses came from a number of interested MIA employees. “The language courses are another step towards our objective to constantly improve on customer service and the fact that the idea actually originated from our employees reflects their initiative and eagerness to be of service to our clients. Air Malta’s acceptance to extend the initiative jointly to its own employees proves our commitment to create new forms of synergy between the various entities operating at Malta International Airport,” Mr Bolech said.

Air Malta’s Chief Officer Strategic Planning Dominic Attard said, “Air Malta is pleased to be collaborating with one of its major stakeholders, MIA, and with NSTS, which has been a key player in the tourism sector for a number of years. Air Malta considers training a vital function of its activities and every year it invests substantial sums in training and development programmes for its personnel. It is hoped that this collaboration with MIA and other providers will be further extended to include not only language training but also other disciplines vital for our mutual operations.”

Francis Stivala, principal of the NSTS language institute said that their primary function is to facilitate communications, not only locally, but also between cultures and peoples. “NSTS is today forging a much deeper relationship with MIA and Air Malta – that of providing an in-house training programme in a number of core languages. Both companies acknowledge that effective communication skills are of the utmost importance for good customer relations, quality service, growth and development, and we at NSTS commit ourselves to add good value through this joint undertaking,” Mr Stivala said. More employees from both organisations will follow other language courses in Italian, Spanish, Russian and Arabic scheduled to commence later this year.