SHANNON airport has taken another major step forward having won a major award at a leading aviation event in Chicago.
The prestigious award sees the airport, which only gained its independence in January of last year, go one step further than last year when it was runner-up in the same category.
The World Routes Awards 2014 were presented late on Monday night at a spectacular event at the Field of Museum of Natural History. The awards are for excellence in marketing by airports globally and are divided into just four categories, based on airport size. The Awards ceremony was attended by 3,000 delegates, representing 300 airlines, 800 airports and 200 tourism authorities.
The event doubled as the Chicago Network Evening and was one of the high points of the three-day annual World Routes gathering of aviation organisations from across the globe. The three-day event brings together the largest range of airlines, airports, tourism authorities, civil aviation authorities and more from all corners of the world. It is the largest and most prestigious such event, attracting the most senior representatives from a wide variety of organisations who wish to meet, plan and conduct business for new global routes.
Speaking from Chicago, Shannon Group plc CEO Neil Pakey said, “Winning the World Routes Awards is an amazing achievement for Shannon, not least so soon after it was made an independent entity. It’s not just the winning of the award but also the fact that the awards are decided on by the airlines themselves. Airlines are a key constituent and this shows Shannon is turning a lot more heads now.
“It has not been achieved without hard work, however, and there is a lot more of that ahead of us but the World Routes award is outstanding recognition for our team at Shannon. It sends a clear message to them that they are very much on the right track and we continue to remain there. Also, winning this award is worldwide promotion that we simply could not buy and in front of the key decision makers for airlines across the world.”
Expressing delight over the World Routes Award, Shannon Group Chairman Rose Hynes said, “A huge amount of work has already gone into turning Shannon around and this award validates that at the highest level.
“Last year, in our first year as an independent entity, was all about consolidation, stopping the five year decline of passenger numbers and we achieved that. This year has been about growth and we are looking at a double digit increase in passenger numbers. The World Routes Award reaffirms what this work has achieved and we intend that there will be no let-up in the momentum.”
