Routes Americas 2014 Awards Winners Announced

MANCHESTER, England, Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Tampa International Airport takes top spot in first regional heat of Routes Awards 2014

Last night during a fantastic networking evening hosted by the Ministry of Tourism El Salvador at the Tazumal Archaeological Site, Santa Ana Tampa International Airport was announced as the winner of the first heat of the 2014 Routes Awards. Over 450 aviation professionals were gathered to witness the presentation of the awards and to take part in the 7^th Routes Americas - the only route development event for the entire Americas.

Speaking just after receiving the award, Tampa International Airport's vice president marketing, Christopher Minner said: "It feels great, and I will tell you what, the competition has never been stronger. This is a victory for our entire team, and our approach. We have got the best partners in the industry and we are so proud of all of the success that we have brought for our airlines this year. Thank you so much!"

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.

As overall winner of this regional heat of the Routes Marketing Awards, Tampa will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Awards which will take place at the event in Chicago, 20-23 September 2014.

Tampa were also named as the winner from the 4-20 million passengers category, with George Bush Intercontinental Airport honoured from the over 20 million passengers category. From the under 4 million passengers category, Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau were ranked top and the Destination Award went to Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

"We would like to congratulate all of the winners and highly commended airports and tourism authorities in this regional heat of the 2014 awards. After much deliberation our panel of airline judges felt that Tampa International Airport was the deserved overall winner," said Adrian Newton, Group Director, Transport and Technology for UBM Live: "Tampa provided a very concise submission and were able to demonstrate their impressive results. The quality of submissions continues to impress us year on year."

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:

Darren Scott, Network Planning - Latin America and Caribbean, United Airlines

John Kirby, Senior Director, International, Southwest Airlines

John Checketts, Director, Route Planning, JetBlue Airways

Benjamin Brookman, Senior Analyst, Network Planning, Alaska Air

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

Over 20 Million Passengers

• George Bush Intercontinental Airport - Winner
• Orlando International Airport - Highly Commended  
• Boston Logan International Airport
• McCarran International Airport
• Sao Paulo/Guarulhos-Governador Andre Franco Montoro International Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

4 - 20 Million Passengers

• Tampa International Airport - Winner
• Pittsburgh International Airport - Highly Commended
• Oakland International Airport
• Portland International Airport
• Southwest Florida International Airport

Under 4 Million Passengers

• Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau - Winner
• Hato International Airport, Curacao - Highly Commended 
• Akron Canton Airport 
• Charleston International Airport 
• Juana Azurduy de Padilla International Airport
• Sangster International Airport

Destination Award 

• Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority - Winner
• Jamaica Tourist Board
• Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board