While my blog happily flies with Brussels Airlines, here is some more good news … Brussels Airport named the best in Europe … and
ain’t that the truth …
Brussels Airport takes overall prize at the Routes Europe 2015 Marketing Awards
Last night during the Networking Evening at the historic Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Brussels Airport was announced as the overall winner of the Europe heat of the 2015 Routes Marketing Awards. Around 1,100 aviation professionals were gathered to witness the presentation of the awards and to take part in this year’s Routes Europe – the leading route development event for the European region.
Commenting on the win, Léon Verhallen, Head of Aviation Marketing, Brussels Airport said: “After winning the top award at World Routes in Chicago last year, it is a great endorsement of our strategy that we are here just six months later being recognised in the European market.”
"It has been a strong year for Brussels Airport and the team have worked hard to ensure we are supporting our airline partners, whether small regional carriers, medium-sized operators or long-haul airlines," he added.
The annual Routes Marketing 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. They provide the airline community with the chance to have their say, regarding the airport or tourism authority they think has provided the best overall services to them relating to route development and marketing over the past year, to establish new or maintain and develop existing routes.
Brussels Airport was also named as the winner in the over 20 million passengers category. In the 4-20 million passengers category Athens International Airport was ranked top. The under 4 million passengers award went to City Airport Bremen for the second consecutive year. Shortlisted for the first time, Innovation Norway won the destination category.
“Brussels Airport really hit it out of the park this year,” commented Katie Bland, Director Routes, UBM EMEA: “Last year Brussels won in the under 20 million passengers category, but they have been so successful in attracting new airlines and growing existing ones that they are now competing in the over 20 million passengers category. With an incredible 15% passenger growth in 2014, they fared better than any other large Western or Central European airport. What impressed the judges was how the team managed to raise the bar in all areas: successful airline marketing, elaborate passenger marketing across borders, improved accessibility and infrastructure, and better services for passengers on site. The result: 14 new destinations since last year.”
The shortlisted finalists were nominated by airline network planners, before a respected panel of judges made up of senior members of the airline network planning community from the region reviewed the lists and submissions from the nominated airports in order to determine the winners. The panel consisted of the following judges:
Jonathan Keenan
Commercial Development Manager
British Airways LCY
Andrew Hodges
Head of Network and Scheduling
easyJet
David Neill
Head of Planning
Jet2.com
Rikke Christensen
Head of Network Planning
Finnair
The awards will be continued throughout the year at all other Routes events, culminating at World Routes in Durban this September. The overall winner of each of Regional Award will be automatically short-listed for the World Routes Awards. Brussels Airport joins Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Tourism Australia, who were recently announced as overall winners of the Americas and Asia heats respectively.
The full list of companies shortlisted under each award category were as follows:
Over 20 Million Passengers
Brussels Airport – Winner & Overall Winner
Munich Airport – Highly Commended
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – Highly Commended
ICF Airports Antalya
Rome FCO Airport
4 – 20 Million Passengers
Athens International Airport – Winner
Cologne Bonn Airport – Highly Commended
Bordeaux Airport
Geneva Airport
Prague Airport
Under 4 Million Passengers
City Airport Bremen – Winner
Billund Airport – Highly Commended
Antwerp International Airport
Doncaster Sheffield Airport
Malmö Airport
Destination Marketing Award
Innovation Norway – Winner
Turismo de Tenerife – Highly Commended
Algarve Promotion Bureau
Montpellier Tourist Board
Valencia Tourism
