ROUTES AFRICA: Kilimanjaro Airport Retains Routes Africa Marketing Crown

Kilimanjaro International Airport has been crowned overall winner of the Routes Africa Marketing Awards for the second year running. The winners of the 4th regional heat of the Routes Marketing Awards were announced last night during the Routes Africa Networking Evening which took place against a stunning backdrop on the Golf Course of the Elephant Hills Hotel & Resort in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Speaking To The HUB Daily just after receiving the award Mattijs Smith, Managing Director of Kilimanjaro Airport said: "We are very delighted and proud to win the overall Routes Africa award for the second year in a row. This award is a true recognition by our airline customers for strengthening our existing routes and achieving a record growth of 24% in traffic in 2013."

The annual Routes awards are highly regarded as the most prestigious awards in the industry as they are voted for and judged by the airline network planning community. They provide the airline community with the chance to have their say as to which airport or tourism authority they think provides the best overall marketing services to them whether this relates to their particular relationship, effective results, provision of data and information or innovative techniques to establish new or maintain and develop existing routes.

Katie Bland, Director Routes for UBM Live said: "We were delighted with the high level of submissions and congratulate all those that were nominated, those recognised as Highly Commended by the panel of judges and of course all of the section winners. Kilimanjaro International Airport has once again shown how seriously it takes network development and their submission included examples of their marketing material and their dedication to improving routes to their airport."

As overall winner of this regional heat, Kilimanjaro International Airport will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards which will be announced in Chicago this September. Kilimanjaro joins Tampa International Airport, Abu Dhabi International Airport and City Airport Bremen who were announced as overall winners of the Americas, Asia and Europe heats respectively, earlier in the year.

Kilimanjaro was also named as the winner from the Under 4 million passengers category, with Durban King Shaka International Airport honoured from the Over 4 million passengers category and Madagascar Tourism Board ranked top in the Destination Marketing Category.

The shortlisted finalists were nominated by airlines and a respected panel of judges, made up of senior members of the airline network planning community from the region, then reviewed the lists and submissions from the nominated airports, in order to determine the winners. The panel consisted of the following experts:

Mrs. Rosemary Ramakagapola, Network Planning Analyst, South African Airways
Mr. Richard Bodin, Chief Commercial Officer, Fastjet
Mr. Jonay Lobo Torres, Revenue Management, Binter Canaries
Miss Cynthia Jepkemboi, Senior Strategic Planning Analyst, Kenya Airways

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

Over 4 Million Passengers

Durban King Shaka International Airport- Winner
Casablanca Mohammed V Airport- Highly Commended
Addis Ababa Bole Airport
Cape Town International Airport

Under 4 Million Passengers

Kilimanjaro International Airport- Winner & Overall Winner
Antananarivo Ivato International Airport- Highly Commended
Julius Nyerere International Airport
Maputo International Airport
Sikhuphe International Airport
Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport

Destination Marketing Award

Madagascar Tourism Board - Winner
Ministry of tourism of Mozambique
São Tomé and Príncipe Tourism Board
Tanzania Tourist Board
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal