ABU DHABI, UAE, October 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

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 1^st 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 Ltd