CHICAGO, September 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Routes is pleased to announce Brussels Airport as overall winner for 2014 

Brussels Airport was announced as the overall winner of the World Routes Awards 2014 which were formally announced last night during the spectacular Chicago Networking Evening which took place at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Speaking just after receiving the highly regarded accolade for the second time in three years, Leon Verhallen, Head of Aviation Marketing, Brussels Airport said: "This was a big surprise.  After winning in Abu Dhabi in 2012 and then being recognised as Highly Commended in Las Vegas last year we simply did not believe we would be picking up this prestigious award tonight.  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."

The awards, which are voted exclusively by airlines, were split into five categories this year comprising of four airport categories, split by size and a destination category for the best destination marketing campaign by a tourism authority.

Brussels Airport was also named as the winner from the 4m-20m Passengers category whilst Changi Airport Group was honoured from the Over 50m Passengers group.  From the 20m-50m Passengers category Dublin Airport took the top spot with Shannon Airport winning the Under 4m Passengers category and Tourism Australia honoured in the Destination Marketing category.

Created in 1997 to recognise excellence in airport marketing as rewarded by airlines, the annual Routes awards provide the airline community with the chance to have their say as to which airport they think provides the best overall marketing services to them.

"We're delighted to mark the achievements of all of our nominated airports and destinations in our annual World Routes Marketing Awards. Year on year we are impressed by the calibre of the submissions," said Katie Bland, Director Routes, UBM Live continuing: "Brussels Airport have had an outstanding year welcoming four new carriers and 18 new destinations to their network and we congratulate them on their continued success."

In addition to the shortlisted finalists nominated by the airlines, the overall winners from each of the regional Routes events from 2014 automatically gained a place in the final judging (Tampa International Airport, Abu Dhabi Airports, City Airport Bremen and Kilimanjaro International Airport).  A respected panel of judges made up of senior members of the airline network planning community then reviewed the lists and submissions from the nominated airports in order to determine the winners.  The panel consisted of the following experts:

Mateusz Klimek, Route Manager, LOT Polish Airlines

Tom Prior, Network Development Longhaul, British Airways

Wilken Bellmann, Head of Network Development Long Haul, Condor Airlines

Jirapon Hirunrat, Director of Network Planning, Bangkok Airways

Rick Wagstaffe, VP Procurement & Logistics, Emirates

Dharmender Hunjan, VP Airline Partnership, Qatar Airways

Rafael Taizhanov, Director Commercial Planning, Air Astana

Simon Bundle, VP Industry and Int Affairs, Ukraine Int. Airlines 

Chris Kennedy, General Manager, Delta Air Lines

Manuel Ambriz Lopez, Network Planning Director, Volaris

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

Over 50m Passengers 

• Changi Airport Group - Winner
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol - Highly Commended
• Frankfurt Airport - Highly Commended
• Heathrow Airport
• Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport

Between 20-50m Passengers 

• Dublin Airport - Winner
• Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) - Highly Commended
• Munich Airport - Highly Commended
• Dusseldorf Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Between 4-20m Passengers 

• Brussels Airport - Winner
• Athens International Airport S.A. - Eleftherios Venizelos - Highly Commended
• Budapest Airport - Highly Commended
• Abu Dhabi Airports
• Tampa International Airport

Under 4m Passengers 

• Shannon Airport - Winner
• City Airport Bremen - Highly Commended
• Aksu Airport
• Cuneo Levaldigi Airport
• Kilimanjaro International Airport

Destination 

• Tourism Australia - Winner
• Turismo De Tenerife - Highly Commended  
• Department of Tourism, Philippines
• Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
• Madagascar Tourism Board
• Valencia Tourism

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 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