Winners of the World Routes Awards 2011 were formally announced at the Berlin Networking Evening which took place during the 17th World Route Development Forum at the site of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt, nine months before the new airport for Germany’s capital region is due to open.

The awards, which are voted exclusively by the airlines, included four regional categories: Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa as in previous years. This year also saw the introduction of two new awards also voted exclusively by airlines: the best network performance by an airline planning team and the best destination marketing campaign by a tourism authority.

Budapest Airport were named as the winner from the European region, with Los Angeles World Airports honoured from the Americas region. From the Africa region Accra International Airport, Ghana were ranked top whilst the Asia Region saw top honours going to Abu Dhabi Airports Company who were also named as overall winner.

“We at Abu Dhabi Airports Company are deeply honored to have all our efforts recognized by the airline community. During the past year we have been focusing on showcasing Abu Dhabi as a growing dynamic destination and the opportunities for airlines to develop from our airport. We believe this success is a result of our understanding of our airlines needs and delivering the best support to help them grow their routes,” said George Karamanos, Vice President Corporate Marketing and Communications for Abu Dhabi Airport.

“Moreover, our basic philosophy revolves around having a direct dialogue with all our airline partners for which our pioneering Airline Marketing Blog has been a key contributor. We will continue working closely with both our new and existing partners to provide them with our award-wining support and look forward to welcoming everyone next year in Abu Dhabi," he added.

The HUB spoke exclusively to the other airport award winners following the ceremony.

Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation Development, of European winner Budapest Airport said: "I am delighted to pick up the top award for best airport marketing in the European category ahead of such strong competition. This prestigious award represents the combined efforts of the dedicated Commercial team at Budapest Airport, who with constant focus and attention to detail have helped us significantly expand and develop our route network and ensure that the airlines receive only the best service from us. We have succeeded in putting Budapest Airport Airline Development and Marketing at the forefront of airline route development and feel extremely proud to be recognised by the global airline industry.”

"We have been punching above our weight from sometime and this award clearly shows that in Europe, being 'big', is not necessarily ' best'," he added.

Mark Thorpe, Director Air Service Development at Americasregion winner Los Angeles World Airports was in high spirits: "Los Angeles World Airports appreciates the airline industry's recognition of LAX for its effort during the past several years to attract new business partners and foster growth opportunities for our long-time airline partners."

"It may just be the Californian in me, but I feel as though we have just won an Oscar," he added.

Meanwhile, in the African section Doreen Owusu-Fianko, Managing Director of airport operator Ghana Airports Company Limited, said: “We feel so proud to win this prestigious award. We are a small but functional airport and it is our vision to be a hub and gateway for the West Africa sub-region. We have always prided ourselves on being customer friendly. We have a large number of infrastructure projects in development and will will start to see the benefits of these in 2012."

Winners of the two newest World Routes Awards were AirAsia X for best network performance by an airline and Malta Tourism Authority in the tourism category.

Senthil Balan, Head of Network Management and Regulatory Affiars at AirAsia X said: "The award is reflection of the AirAsia Group's motivation and ambition and I am particulalrly delighted to have won the inaugural trophy."

"I just hope I will not have all my colleagues in my office next week asking for a pay rise," he quipped.

The prestige of the World Routes Awards is largely due to the fact that these widely sought after awards are solely nominated by the best people to judge the effectiveness of any airport marketing campaign, network performance and destination marketing campaign - The Airline Networking Planning Community.

“The World Routes Awards are very highly regarded by airports as they are the only awards in the industry that reward and acknowledge their marketing to airlines,” said Peter Von Moltke, Chief Executive Officer of UBM Aviation, parent company of sponsor OAG. “I am delighted that we have introduced the new categories this year so the Awards are truly representative of the route development community that has gathered in Berlin, and they are something we hope to further develop in future years.”

In addition to the shortlisted finalists nominated by the airlines the regional winners from each of the regional Routes events from 2011 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 Markku Nokkala, Chief Network & Planning Officer for Oman Air; Mr Buddy Anslinger, formerly of Continental Airlines; Mr Bob Hill, Director Network Planning for American Airlines; Mr Germal Khan, Senior Vice President for Malaysia Airlines; Mr Lee Lipton, Director of Network Planning for Aer Lingus.

Speaking about Abu Dhabi’s submission Anslinger said: “Abu Dhabi had a comprehensive submission, covering all the primary points necessary in an excellent fashion, presenting itself in a very slick, professional manner, and all the while retaining the essence of its Middle Eastern roots in its application.”

Additionally, Kenya Airways was named as the winner of the Orbis Social Responsibility Award for their “Change makes Change” programme which enables customers and staff to raise funds to alleviate famine and drought in Northern Kenya.

Routes and OAG are pleased to announce in full the list of companies shortlisted under each award category:

Africa
Accra International Airport, Ghana – Winner
Bamako Senou International Airport – Highly Commended
Cairo International Airport
Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport

Americas
Los Angeles World Airports – Winner
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport - Highly Commended
Boston Logan International Airport – Highly Commended
Oakland International Airport
Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority
JFK International Air Terminal LLC

Asia
Abu Dhabi Airports Company – Winner
Singapore Changi International Airport– Highly Commended
Auckland International Airport– Highly Commended
Bahrain International Airport
Christchurch International Airport
Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow

Europe
Budapest Airport - Winner
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport – Highly Commended
Athens International Airport – Highly Commended
London Stansted
Hamburg Airport
Munich Airport

Overall Winner
Abu Dhabi Airports Company

Best Network Performance by an Airline
AirAsia X – Winner
Brussels Airlines
Air France-KLM
Delta Air Lines

Best Destination Marketing Campaign by a Tourism Authority
Malta Tourism Authority – Winner
Jordan Tourism Board
Greek National Tourism Organisation
Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority

Orbis Social Responsibility Award
Kenya Airways