Aberdeen Airport wins Routes Europe award
The overall winner of the third heat of this year's Routes Awards held last night at a spectacular networking evening which took place at Terminal One of Budapest Airport, was Munich Airport. Over 1,000 aviation professionals were gathered to witness the presentation of the awards and to take part in the 8th Routes Europe - the largest route development event for the entire Europe region to date.
Nigel Mayes, VP commercial, Routes, UBM Live said: "After much deliberation our panel of judges felt that Munich should take the overall winner crown due to quality of their submission combined with their consistent growth and ability to continually attract new airlines including Ukraine International Airlines and Vueling."
The awards are highly regarded as the most prestigious awards in the industry as they are voted for and judged by the airline network planning community.
Carol Benzie, commercial director, Aberdeen International Airport was at the awards presentation and was delighted to scoop the trophy. She said: “Whilst we felt we had a strong entry, there was a lot of stiff competition in our category. We stressed the work that we do, on an on-going basis, to market the airport and the region, for example show-casing a number of specific projects we have worked on including the viral YouTube film 'Tom’s Aberdeen Adventure', and of course the work we do to drive existing air services from Aberdeen. It is rewarding to be recognised at this level by our peers and colleagues.”
Members of the airport team have spent the last few days in the Hungarian capital, attending what is described as one of the most important dates in the aviation calendar. The event attracts airports and airlines from across Europe and is seen as a launch-pad for attracting new carriers and destinations to the airport map. The Aberdeen team have been working hard to cement relationship and specifically to attract new leisure carriers to the North-east.
It comes ahead of the city hosting the prestigious event in 2015.
Aberdeen City and Shire will host Europe's largest route development forum - Routes Europe 2015 - at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), 12-14 April 2015. The announcement of Aberdeen as the host destination for Routes Europe 2015 represents the culmination of a successful bid to host the event which was initiated by Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ) in which all of the region’s key stakeholders were involved in supporting the proposal.
Carol Benzie, commercial director, Aberdeen International Airport said: “Securing Routes Europe in 2015 is a major achievement for everyone involved. The profile that this conference will bring to the region is hard to over-state. The event brings airlines and industry leaders from around the globe to the City and will ensure that the delegates get a chance to see what the wider region has to offer. Our ability to host major events and showcase our area will be one of the key outcomes of Routes Europe in 2015, and will provide a lasting legacy within the industry.”
The Routes Awards recognise and reward the highest standards of marketing activities undertaken by airports and tourism authorities. The 2013 awards will see a number of innovations including taking a blended approach to the nomination process, meaning the final nominees included a number of the fastest growing airports in Europe, those who were shortlisted by airlines using our online voting form together with a number of airports who were selected by a panel of industry experts drawn from the airline network planning community. This year the awards were split into three categories based on the size of the airport and also a new tourism award for best destination marketing campaign by a tourism authority.
A complete list of companies shortlisted under each award category is below:
Over 20 Million Passengers
Munich Airport - Winner
Rome FCO Airport - Highly Commended
Vienna International Airport - Highly Commended
Frankfurt Airport
Istanbul Ataturk Airport, TAV
Four to 20 Million Passengers
Athens International Airport - Winner
Dublin Airport - Highly Commended
Marseille Provence Airport - Highly Commended
Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport
Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Prague Airport
Under Four Million Passengers
Aberdeen International Airport - Winner
Krakow Airport - Highly Commended
Tallinn Airport - Highly Commended
London City Airport
London Southend Airport
Destination Marketing Award
Turismo de Tenerife - Winner
Malta Tourism - Highly Commended
Valencia Tourism - Highly Commended
Wonderful Copenhagen
Tourism Ireland
As overall winner of this regional heat, Munich Airport will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Airport Marketing Awards which will take place at the event in Las Vegas, 5th-8th October 2013 and join San Diego International Airport and Changi Airport Group who were announced as overall winner of the Americas and Asia heats respectively, earlier in the year.
