MANCHESTER, England, February 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Tampa International Airport takes top spot in first regional heat of Routes Awards 2014

Last night during a fantastic networking evening hosted by the Ministry of Tourism El Salvador at the Tazumal Archaeological Site, Santa Ana Tampa International Airport was announced as the winner of the first heat of the 2014 Routes Awards. Over 450 aviation professionals were gathered to witness the presentation of the awards and to take part in the 7^th Routes Americas - the only route development event for the entire Americas.

Speaking just after receiving the award, Tampa International Airport's vice president marketing, Christopher Minner said: "It feels great, and I will tell you what, the competition has never been stronger.  This is a victory for our entire team, and our approach.  We have got the best partners in the industry and we are so proud of all of the success that we have brought for our airlines this year.  Thank you so much!"

The annual Routes 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 as to which airport or tourism authority they think provides the best overall marketing services to them, whether this relates to their particular relationship, effective results, provision of data and information or innovative techniques to establish new or maintain and develop existing routes.  

As overall winner of this regional heat of the Routes Marketing Awards, Tampa will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Awards which will take place at the event in Chicago, 20-23 September 2014.

Tampa were also named as the winner from the 4-20 million passengers category, with George Bush Intercontinental Airport honoured from the over 20 million passengers category.  From the under 4 million passengers category, Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau were ranked top and the Destination Award went to Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

"We would like to congratulate all of the winners and highly commended airports and tourism authorities in this regional heat of the 2014 awards. After much deliberation our panel of airline judges felt that Tampa International Airport was the deserved overall winner," said Adrian Newton, Group Director, Transport and Technology for UBM Live: "Tampa provided a very concise submission and were able to demonstrate their impressive results. The quality of submissions continues to impress us year on year."

The shortlisted finalists were nominated by airlines and a respected panel of judges made up of senior members of the airline network planning community from the region then reviewed the lists and submissions from the nominated airports in order to determine the winners.  The panel consisted of the following experts:

Darren Scott, Network Planning - Latin America and Caribbean, United Airlines

John Kirby, Senior Director, International, Southwest Airlines

John Checketts, Director, Route Planning, JetBlue Airways

Benjamin Brookman, Senior Analyst, Network Planning, Alaska Air

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

Over 20 Million Passengers

• George Bush Intercontinental Airport - Winner
• Orlando International Airport - Highly Commended     
• Boston Logan International Airport
• McCarran International Airport
• São Paulo/Guarulhos-Governador André Franco Montoro International Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

4 - 20 Million Passengers

• Tampa International Airport - Winner
• Pittsburgh International Airport - Highly Commended
• Oakland International Airport
• Portland International Airport
• Southwest Florida International Airport  

Under 4 Million Passengers

• Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau - Winner
• Hato International Airport, Curacao - Highly Commended   
• Akron Canton Airport   
• Charleston International Airport   
• Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport
• Sangster International Airport

Destination Award    

• Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority - Winner
• Jamaica Tourist Board
• Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board

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 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, @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 Live Routes Ltd