The Routes Airport Marketing Awards have become synonymous with recognising and rewarding the highest standards of marketing activities undertaken by airports.  They work on the core principal that the people who are best placed to judge an airport’s marketing activities are its primary users: the airlines themselves.

After being nominated by airlines, the airports are then asked to submit details about their route development activity and results.  A panel of judges considers these submissions and scores them based upon how it matches the entry brief, route development content, evidence of relationship with airlines, innovative ways of marketing to airlines, results, effectiveness and creative application

The European regional awards are split into four categories.  In the first covering Scandinavia and the Baltics, the shortlisted airports included Helsinki and Riga International.  Highly commended was Stockholm Arlanda Airport, which has attracted new services to Doha and New York, but the winner was Copemhagen.  “The airport has claimed to have performed the largest percentage increase in passengers in 2010 amongst the major European airports,” said Nigel Mayes.  “They have attracted three of the big Gulf carriers in the past 15 months and finally are opening a dedicated low-cost terminal, with a €3 discount in passenger charge.”

In the second regional category covering Western Europe, the shortlist included Munich and Zurich airports.  Two were highly commended – Hamburg, which is “celebrating its 100th birthday” this year and has demonstrated “an innovative approach to working with tour operators” and Brussels where there have been ten new airlines arrivals in the past 12 months and which offered “one of the most creative approaches to our submission process,” according to Nigel Mayes.  The winner in this “highly competitive” section was Amsterdam Schiphol which according to the judging panel “clearly demonstrated both growth and results through their route development activities”.

In the Mediterranean and Southern Europe category there were five shortlisted candidates including Antalya and Istanbul Ataturk, both in Turkey.  Also from the country, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International, was highly commended, alongside Athens International, which was praised for the attitude of the airport’s marketing team, which “worked hard to develop the facility through creative route development activities” during a difficult year due to the economic problems in Greece.  The winner in this section was Barcelona which was praised for securing new carriers in the form of Pakistan International Airlines and Singapore Airlines and their traffic growth across the first three months.  “Their route development committee is a benchmark of how tourism authorities, local government and airports should work together,” added Nigel Mayes.

The overall winner came from the final section, Central & Eastern Europe, where it competed with Airports of Montenegro, Skopje Alexander the Great, Prague and Warsaw Chopin for the regional prize.  Highly commended in this category were Prague and Warsaw which were credit for changes to the fee structures and their creative use of marketing, including social media strategies.

Full details are below:

Scandinavia and the Baltics

Helsinki Airport (Finland)
Riga International Airport (Latvia)
Highly Commended: Stockholm Arlanda Airport (Sweden)
Winner: Copenhagen Airport (Denmark)

Western Europe

Munich Airport (Germany)
Zurich Airport (Switzerland)
Highly Commended: Brussels Airport (Belgium)
Highly Commended: Hamburg Airport (Germany)
Winner: Amsterdam Airport (The Netherlands)

Mediterranean & Southern Europe

Antalya Airport (Turkey)
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (Turkey)
Highly Commended: Athens International Airport (Greece)
Highly Commended: Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen International Airport (Turkey)
Winner: Barcelona – Aeropuerto de Barcelona (Spain)

Central & Eastern Europe
Airports of Montenegro (Montenegro)
Skopje Alexander the Great Airport (Macedonia)
Highly Commended: Prague Airport (Czech Republic)
Highly Commended: Warsaw Chopin Airport (Poland)
Winner: Budapest Airport (Hungary)