Australia’s tenth busiest airport scooped this year’s Routes Airport Marketing Award for the Asian region at a relaxed dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel in the Chinese city of Chengdu, as part of the tenth Routes Asia forum, proving you don’t need to be a major hub airport to be recognised for your network development activities. The airport fought off strong competition from Beijing Capital International Airport and GVK – Mumbai International Airport which had also won their individual categories in the prestigious Routes Airports Marketing Awards.
Darwin International, which last year handled around 2.3 million passengers, will now automatically go forward into the final shortlist for the World Routes Awards, which will take place in Abu Dhabi later this year. It will join the US gateway and major hub of American Airlines, Dallas/Fort Worth International, which successfully retained its regional crown in the Americas heat of the awards in The Bahamas earlier this year.
According to the award judges, Darwin International demonstrated a clear route development strategy and implementation process in their awards submission and illustrated how they have worked effectively with their airline customers. Darwin has achieved a milestone new route in the form of SilkAir’s two-class operation to Singapore Changi and steady passenger growth to complete a strong 12 month performance for a regional airport of this size.
Speaking exclusively to The HUB after collecting the region’s overall winner’s award, Jim Parashos, Director Airline and Airport Services, Darwin International Airport said: “Wow! What a fantastic recognition of one of the world’s smaller regional gateways. We are absolutely thrilled with this achievement. Darwin Airport has had a clear strategy that has been focussed on delivering increased full-service airlines to Australia’s top end. We are undergoing a A$50 million expansion, a major investment for a facility of our size which handles around 2.3 million passengers per annum, and this will double our busy hour capacity.”
“I would like to thank airports in our region for setting the bar high and making us work hard, our hard working aviation development and marketing team and finally UBM Aviation, Routes for recognising and rewarding Darwin International Airport’s hard work,” he added.
Darwin International Airport is one of three facilities including Alice Springs Airport and Tennant Creek Airport that are managed under the Northern Territory Airports brand by Airport Development Group (ADG) after it acquired their lease from the Commonwealth Government with effect from June 10, 1998 and with a total consideration in the order of $110 million.
The airport had been the winner of the Oceania & South East Asian section of this year’s Routes Airport Marketing Awards, ahead of larger rivals in the region. New Zealand’s largest facility, Auckland International, was Highly Commended by the judges for demonstrating a clear and simple route development strategy and the “most polished” submission of all airports. “Its campaign to develop capacity from China is an example of a perfect air service development campaign and illustrates how innovative airport marketing can be,” explained Nigel Mayes, Vice President and Commercial Director, UBM Aviation, Routes.
Singapore Changi International Airport was also Highly Commended for an innovative approach to its aviation marketing. The airport has attracted six new airlines over the past 12 months, but it was its coachfly and flycruise products that got the judges attention, the latter a project it has been with alongside Royal Caribbean and Star Cruises. “This airport again leads the way in route development field and continues to innovate,” said Nigel Mayes. Australia’s two largest airports – Melbourne and Sydney were also shortlisted in this category.
The Middle East & India section of the Awards was won by GVK – Mumbai International Airport, which reported a 8.2 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2011 in comparison to the previous year (modest by Indian standards but a level that many European airports would have been more than delighted to have achieved) breaking through the 30 million passenger barrier in the process. According to the judging panel, their clearly thought through submission demonstrated how much they had achieved in the field of route development, “demonstrating a clear strategy, how they work with airlines and the type of research they undertake in order to win new air services”.
Fellow Indian facility, Delhi International Airport was Highly Commended in this section, as was last year’s regional and world winner Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), the host of this year’s World Routes event. Delhi International was praised for achieving the highest growth in passenger numbers, with a huge leap from 28.5 million in 2010 to 34.7 million in 2011. “This airport has recently delivered one of the largest terminal development projects in the region and led the way in terminal design in India,” said Nigel Mayes. Meanwhile, ADAC was highlighted by the judges for the fact it manages to raise the bar each year and “continues to lead the way in route development, setting the benchmark for other airport.” Two other Indian airports were also shortlisted in this regional section – Bangalore International and GMR Hyderabad International.
In the final section, China & North East Asia, Beijing Capital International Airport pipped Shanghai International Airports Company to the award, although the latter was Highly Commended for its own submission. The fast-expanding Beijing Capital International, which will soon overtake Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the largest passenger gateway in the world, was praised for being “quick to engage with the world airlines” and for its use of “sophisticated market research and data sources when presenting to carriers”. Shanghai International Airports Company was rewarded for a year of solid growth and its ability to manage two separate airports in the Chinese city. Guangzhou Baiyun International and Narita Airport Corporation were also shortlisted in this category.
Meanwhile, ahead of the formal awards ceremony, this year’s host Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport was presented with a special achievement award for their contribution to aviation. Over the past 12 months the facility has attracted a new scheduled air link to Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways and witnessed significant passenger growth which has helped lift it to the position of fifth largest airport in China and the fourth largest airport city in the country.
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