Delta Connection carrier
Atlantic Southeast Airlines’ Maintenance and Engineering division again
has received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) highest honor—
the Diamond Award—for aviation maintenance training. This is the sixth
consecutive year the airline has been recognized.More than 600 technicians were honored with awards, and ASA also received
the station Diamond Certificate of Excellence for each of its eight
maintenance stations.

“Maintenance training and professional development opportunities are vital
to ASA’s success, particularly as we grow our fleet of Bombardier CRJs
through 2005,” said Anthony DiNota, vice president - Maintenance and
Engineering. “This year’s award, recognizing all of our maintenance
locations and nearly 80 percent of our technicians, is a testament to our
team’s commitment to a safe, reliable operation.”

Implemented in 1990, the FAA’s aviation maintenance technician (AMT) award
program is an incentive for individual maintenance technicians to complete
recurrent and initial training programs. To qualify for the FAA Diamond
Award, at least 25 percent of an airline’s eligible maintenance
technicians must pass specialized, ongoing training during a 12-month
period.

ASA employs more than 800 maintenance personnel at eight maintenance
facilities in six states—a 60,000-square-foot headquarters maintenance
base in Macon, Ga.; a 39,000-square-foot base in Baton Rouge, La.; and
line maintenance centers in Atlanta; Dallas/Ft. Worth; Montgomery, Ala.;
Shreveport, La., Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., and Columbia, S.C.

ASA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines , operates more than 800
flights each day to 108 airports in 30 states, Canada, Mexico and the
Bahamas. Founded in 1979, ASA has operated as a Delta Connection carrier
since 1984 and carried more than nine million passengers during calendar
year 2003. The airline operates a fleet of 131 aircraft and employs more
than 6,000 aviation professionals across its route system. For more
information, visit flyasa.com or delta.com.
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