Budapest Airport wins top award at World Routes Conference in Berlin

(Left to right) Patrick Bohl, Head of Airline Development and Strategy and Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation accept the award on behalf of Budapest Airport.

Budapest Airport has been formally announced as the European winner of this year’s World Routes Airport Marketing Awards at the 2011 Gala Networking Evening in Berlin, Germany. More than 3000 aviation professionals gathered for the 14th annual event.

(Left to right) Patrick Bohl, Head of Airline Development and Strategy and Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation accept the award on behalf of Budapest Airport.

The airport was particularly commended for its “comprehensive submission and constant innovation in marketing” by the judges. The entry detailed the opening of a new terminal building bud:skycourt, route development incentives, in-depth market analysis, airport research, product development, partnering with Hungary’s Tourist Board, joint promotions such as digital and social media campaigns and seven new routes in the last 12 months, including Qatar Airways to Doha, American Airlines to New York and SkyWork Airlines to Bern.

This latest accolade comes hard on the heels of Budapest Airport’s recent success as winner of the European Routes Marketing Award and supports the continued cooperation that the airport has to promote Hungary as a destination with the Hungarian National Tourism Office.

Widely recognised as one of the industry’s most important honours, the awards are unique and highly sought after because 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.

Director of Aviation at Budapest Airport, Kam Jandu 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.”

Budapest Airport, CEO Jost Lammers added: “We have such a great team of dedicated individuals working for us. This is fantastic for the airport and for all our stakeholders. It is a real honour for us to win knowing that the award has been voted for by our customers, the airlines.”

The Routes Airport Marketing Awards have become synonymous with recognising and rewarding the highest standards of marketing activities undertaken by airports. 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 World Routes Awards comprised four regional categories: Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Other global award winners were Abu Dhabi Airports Company for the Asian region, Los Angeles World Airports for the Americas and Accra Interntational Airport, Ghana for the African region.