ABERDEEN, Scotland, April 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Category wins go to Athens and Bremen Airports as well as Innovation Norway  

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

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 are part of the UBM EMEA division of UBM plc.

• UBM EMEA 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 EMEA 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.

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

About UBM plc 

• UBM plc is a global events-led marketing services and communications company.  We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing news and specialist content.  Our 5,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into expert teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

• For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com; follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc to get the latest UBM corporate news; follow @UBM for news from all UBM's businesses; follow @UBM for a flavour of UBM from selected members of UBM's Twitterati.

SOURCE UBM EMEA Routes Ltd