KRAKÓW, Poland, April 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was announced as the overall winner of the Routes Europe edition of the Routes 2016 Marketing Awards last night at a ceremony in Kraków, Poland.

The annual Routes Marketing Awards recognise excellence in airport and destination marketing. Airlines vote for the marketing services that support the successful launch of new routes or the development of existing ones, making them highly regarded in the aviation industry.

Speaking just after receiving the highly regarded accolade, Lotte Harbers, director aviation marketing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol said: “It is a great pleasure for us to come up onto the stage to collect this award voted for by our airline partners. We are really happy as it is important for us to be recognised by the industry. We have been nominated many times previously so it is great to take home the prize.”

“It feels great to be out on top again as it shows that airlines really value what we do for them. That is what counts the most for us,” added Marcel Lekkerkerk, director aviation marketing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, home to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, welcomed ten new airlines in 2015, including Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Qatar Airways and Ryanair. It also added 21 new destinations that include Krakow, Belfast City, Mumbai and Salt Lake City.

“We like to give the airlines the personal touch and not a general approach. We treat all of our airline partners differently and provide solutions that support their business needs to deliver a sustainable solution for both parties,” said Lottie Harbers.

The awards, which are voted for exclusively by airlines, are split into four categories.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was also named as the winner in the over 20 million passengers category; Athens International Airport was honoured in the 4-20 million passengers category; City Airport Bremen in the under 4 million passengers category and Innovation Norway in the Destination Marketing category.

As overall winner of tonight’s awards, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol will be automatically shortlisted for their category at the World Routes Awards in Chengdu, China on 26 September 2016. Auckland Airport and Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board are also shortlisted from previous regional wins at Routes Asia and Routes Americas.

“We’re delighted to mark the achievements of all of our nominated airports and destinations in this regional heat of the Routes Marketing Awards. Year-on-year we are impressed by the calibre of the submissions,” said Adrian Newton, Group Director, Aviation & Technology, UBM EMEA, who presented the awards.

A respected panel of judges made up of senior members of the airline network planning community reviewed airline nominations and submissions from the nominated airports in order to determine the winners.

Notes to Editors

• Image L-R: Marcel Lekkerkerk, director aviation marketing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol; Lotte Harbers, director aviation marketing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Adrian Newton, Group Director, Aviation & Technology, UBM EMEA.

About Routes

• Routes events are unique forums dedicated to the development of new air services. Five ‘regional’ route development forums are held between February and July in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa/Middle East and Silk Road/Russian Commonwealth, and the flagship World Routes event takes place in September. https://www.routesonline.com
• The events revolve around pre-scheduled meetings and an exhibition and conference which are delivered in partnership with host stakeholders. Hosts tend to be a collaboration between airports, tourism authorities and investment partners (the bidding process takes place two to three years before the event takes place).
• Routes was founded in 1995 and is part of the UBM EMEA division of UBM plc.

Source : PRNewswire