"Alaska Airlines takes these incidents very seriously," said Amanda Tobin, spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines.

According to Tobin, the airline is providing supplemental safety briefings that are above and beyond ongoing safety training for more than 430 Menzies Aviation employees at the Seattle-Tacoma airport near Seattle.

In recent weeks, Menzies Aviation workers at Sea-Tac and Los Angeles International airports have banged, scratched and bumped Alaska Airlines aircraft on the ground.

Last month, a Menzies Aviation employee in Washington state did not report a collision with a baggage container and an MD 80 aircraft. During the flight, the aircraft lost cabin pressure due to a hole created by the incident and was forced to return to Sea-Tac airport.

Ten days later, while passengers were boarding Flight 808 at Sea-Tac, the Boeing 737-700 the aircraft was inadvertently pulled forward by a tug. This caused the plane's right engine nacelle to strike a baggage-loading machine and damaged the aircraft's forward door when it collided with the jetway.

Alaska Airlines took the aircraft out of service and inspected it. The passengers were put on another flight for Dallas-Fort Worth two hours later.

At Los Angeles International Airport Jan. 3, an Alaska Airlines jet was hit by a Menzies bag tug while being towed by a tug on the ramp. The aircraft received minor damage and was taken out of service.

Menzies, based in London, took over the $13 million annual ground-handling contract in the Lower 48 for Alaska in May 2005, after the airline switched from using its own employees.

Menzies says that it is flying four experts in to review the Seattle incidents and will do a 90-day review of the services it provides Alaska Airlines at Sea-Tac and beyond.

The company is also flying in 25 trainers to change the safety culture, according to Menzies Aviation company secretary John Geddes.

"The main thing for us is that we are proud of our overall safety record. We are not sure what is up with the Seattle operation," Geddes said. "But you can be sure that we are going to change the culture of that operation."

According to Tobin, the airline announced an aggressive plan to further increase oversight of Menzies Aviation operations at Sea-Tac and ramp service operations at airports throughout its route system.

The multi-pronged plan includes:

• Increasing oversight and quality assurance of a wider array of vendors, including catering, fueling, ramp and other service vendors;

• Creating a new mechanism for pilots to communicate directly with station managers about any ground handling issues;

• Conducting an additional audit of ramp services at Sea-Tac by comparing Alaska Airlines' procedures with the industry's best practices

• Encouraging Menzies Aviation to adopt a non-punitive reporting philosophy that is similar to that of Alaska Airlines.

Alaska Airlines said that the incidents would have no bearing on its contract with Menzies.