World Routes Awards 2012 Winners Announced

AsiaNet 50884

ABU DHABI, UAE, Oct. 2, 2012 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

    Routes and OAG are pleased to announce Brussels Airport as overall winner

for 2012

    Brussels Airport triumped as overall winner of the World Routes Awards 2012

which were formally announced last night at the Abu Dhabi Networking Evening

which took place at the Yas Marina Circuit, home of the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

racing circuit.

    "This is a wonderful recognition of the achievement of our aviation

marketing team over the past year. To be recognised for our hard efforts by

this industry's peers is even more rewarding," said Arnaud Feist, Chief

Executive Officer, Brussels Airport.

    Having won the European heat of the Airport Marketing Awards and now the

Europe and overall award, Leon Verhallen, Head of Aviation Marketing, Brussels

Airport was in positive spirits after the awards ceremony. "We have reached the

top following our win tonight," he said. "I don't think we can go any higher

then achieving this reward."

    The awards, which are voted exclusively by airlines, included five regional

categories: Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and CIS. This year, for the

first time, the awards included a special award for Airports Under Four Million

Passengers and presentations of a Tourism Award for best destination marketing

campaign by a tourism authority and the ORBIS Award for Social Responsibility

also took place.

    Brussels were also named as the winner from the European region, with Dallas

Fort/Worth International Airport honoured from the Americas region. From the

Africa region Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi were ranked top with

Ekaterinburg Koltsovo International Airport winning the CIS category whilst the

Asia Region saw top honours going to Singapore Changi.

    Darwin International Airport were awarded as the winner of the newest award

category for Airports Under Four Million Passengers and Seychelles Tourism

Board were awarded best destination marketing campaign by a Tourism Authority.

    The World Routes Awards have grown and developed over the last 15 years and

are unique within the industry because they are voted for exclusively by the

airline network planning community. The prestige of these industry awards,

which recognise excellence in air service development by airports, is largely

due to this method of voting.

    David Stroud, Executive Vice President of Routes said "We would like

congratulate this year's winners and highly commended airports, year on year we

are impressed by the calibre of the submissions that are supplied to us.

Proving the importance of airline-airport relationship. We would also like to

thank our judges who are all senior members of the airline network planning

community and of course to our sponsor OAG for their continued support."

    In addition to the shortlisted finalists nominated by the airlines, the

regional winners from each of the regional Routes events from 2012

automatically gained a place in the final judging.

    A respected panel of industry executives then reviewed the lists and

submissions from the nominated airports in order to determine the winners. The

panel consisted of the following experts:

    Mr John Kirby, Senior Director, International for Southwest Airlines

    Mr Rick Wagstaffe, Vice President Procurement & Logistics for Emirates

    Mr Alan McIntyre, Head of Network and Schedule Development for easyJet

    Mr Imed Ben Abdallah, Head of Network Planning for Etihad Airways

    Ms Sabine Reim, Network Development Manager for British Airways

    Mr Germal Singh Khera, Senior Vice President International Affairs for

Malaysia Airlines

    Mr Mauricio Emboaba Moreira, Senior Strategic Advisor for Gol Transportes

Aereos

    Mr John Grant, Executive Vice President of OAG

    "This is the first year I have participated in the judging process for the

World Routes Awards. I was impressed by the quality of the submissions and

enjoyed the seeing the diversity of the approach from airports across the

world" Rick Wagstaffe, Vice President Procurement & Logistics, Emirates.

    Additionally KLM/Air France was named as the winner of the ORBIS Award for

Social Responsibility.

    The full list of companies shortlisted under each award category were as

follows:

    Africa (All Airports)

    - Jomo Kenyatta International Airport - Winner

    - Accra International Airport, Ghana - Highly Commended

    - Entebbe International Airport

    - Julius Nyerere International Airport

    - Mombassa International Airport, Kenya

    Americas (Over 4 Million Passengers)

    - Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport - Winner

    - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport - Highly Commended

    - Chicago O'Hare International Airport

    - Houston Airports

    - Portland International Airport, Oregon

    - Southwest Florida International Airport

    Asia (Over 4 Million Passengers)

    - Singapore Changi Airport Group - Winner

    - Incheon International Airport - Highly Commended

    - Melbourne Airport - Highly Commended

    - Sydney Airport - Highly Commended

    - Bangalore International Airport

    - Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd.

    - Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DEL)

    - Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd.

    CIS (All Airports)

    - Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport - Winner

    - Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow - Highly Commended

    - Novosibirsk International Airport Tolmachevo

    - Saint Petersburg International Pulkovo Airport

    Europe (Over 4 Million Passengers)

    - Brussels Airport - Winner

    - Budapest Airport - Highly Commended

    - Hamburg Airport - Highly Commended

    - Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

    - Athens International Airport

    - Birmingham Airport Ltd

    - Munich Airport

    - Rome Fiumicino Airport

    Airports under 4 Million Passengers (excluding Africa & CIS)

    - Darwin International Airport - Winner

    - Queen Beatrix International Airport, Aruba - Highly Commended

    - Friedrichshafen Airport - Highly Commended

    - London City Airport

    - Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten

    Best Destination Marketing Campaign by a Tourism Authority

    - Seychelles Tourism Board - Winner

    - Aruba Tourism Authority

    - Czech Tourism

    - Greek National Tourism Organisation

    - Department of Tourism, Philippines

    Orbis Social Responsibility Award

    - KLM/Air France

    Overall Winner

    - Brussels Airport

    Notes to Editors

    About Routes

    - Routes organises world-renowned airline and airport networking events

      through its regional and global Route Development Forums. Each year, there

      is one global event and one regional event in Asia, Africa, Europe, the

      Americas and CIS respectively. http://www.routesonline.com

    - Routes was founded in 1995 as part of the Manchester UK-based ASM Ltd.,

      a consultancy specialising in the field of route development for airports.

      http://www.asm-global.com

    - Routes and ASM were acquired by UBM Aviation Worldwide Ltd in August 2010.

      From 1st August 2012 Routes, ASM and the Airport Cities Conference and

      Exhibition become part of the UBM Live division of UBM plc.

    - UBM Live connects people and creates opportunities for companies across

      five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new

      products, promote their brands and expand their markets. Through premiere

      brands such as MD&M, CPhI, IFSEC, TFM&A, Cruise Shipping Miami, the

      Concrete Show, the Routes portfolio of events, Airport Cities and many

      others, UBM Live exhibitions, conferences, awards programs, publications,

      websites and training and certification programs are an integral part of

      the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry sectors.

      http://www.ubmlive.com

    Follow us on twitter: @Routesonline, @TheHUBRoutes, @VictoriaRoutes,

@RouteExchange, @airlineroute

    About OAG

    OAG is the trusted source for aviation information and analytical services,

with data sourced from OAG's comprehensive and proprietary airline Schedules,

Flight Status, Fleet, and Cargo Logistics databases. Our airline schedules

database holds future and historical flight details for over 1,000 airlines and

more than 4,000 airports. Our aggregated data feeds the world's global

distribution systems and travel portals, and drives the internal systems of

many airlines, airports, air traffic control systems, aircraft manufacturers,

and government agencies around the world. For more information, visit

http://www.oag.com

    SOURCE: UBM Aviation Routes Limited