Brussels Airport Awards 2008 - The Marketing Award Long Haul Airline goes to Ethiopian Airlines

26 October, 2008

(Brussels Airport) Thursday night Brussels Airport for the second consecutive year organised the Brussels Airport Awards ceremony. At the gala night held in the Sky Hall under the theme "50 years of passion - building our future together", awards were presented to the airlines and other airport partners for their outstanding performance over the past twelve months.

The Brussels Airport Awards are presented in three categories:

The Marketing Awards are presented to airlines that distinguished themselves in 2008 through the opening of new routes, product development and a close collaboration with the Brussels Airport Marketing department.

• The Marketing Award Short Haul Airline goes to easyJet, which since June of last year has opened 4 new routes and 6 daily services from Brussels Airport. The new routes to Geneva, Berlin, Nice and Milan are expected to carry 450,000 passengers in 2009.
• The Marketing Award Long Haul Airline goes to Ethiopian Airlines that increased the frequency of their Addis Ababa service from a three-weekly to a daily service, entered into a cooperation agreement with Brussels Airlines and opened a direct coach service to Brussels Airport from The Netherlands.
• The Marketing Award Cargo Airline goes to Singapore Airlines Cargo for the successful development of 7th Freedom operations via Brussels and the resulting strong growth in cargo volumes at Brussels Airport

Within the same Marketing Awards category two certificates were presented to commercial partners: one for the most remarkable and innovative concept for passengers, developed by a partner concessionaire (Innovation of the Year) and one for the most remarkable new brand at Brussels Airport (New Brand of the Year).

• Belgian Sky Shops was awarded the Innovation of the Year certificate for the opening of "Epicure" in pier A. This unique concept offers a choice selection of the finest wines, malt whiskies, brandies, champagnes and cigars.
• The certificate New Brand of the Year was presented to Starbucks Coffee Company, the American coffee giant that opened the first ever Starbucks coffee bar in Belgium at Brussels Airport and will shortly open a second outlet in pier A.

Finally, the Commercial Strongest Grower of the Year Award was presented to JC Decaux, one of Brussels Airport's new partners that have thoroughly changed and modernised the "look and feel" of the airport over the past few months.

The Environment & Safety Awards are presented to airlines or other airport partners who have contributed considerably to environmental protection and airport safety.

• The Environment Award goes to Flybe, which operates a five-daily service to Manchester and Southampton using the most modern aircraft in their class, the Dash8-400Q and Embraer 190, and pays special attention to its environmental policy.
• The Safety Award was presented to Marc Sterckx of Belgocontrol, for his daily commitment to airport safety. Marc Sterckx also is the driving force behind the Local Runway Safety Team, which takes new initiatives to improve runway safety.

The Efficiency & Punctuality Awards reward cargo carriers for the efficiency of their operations and the regional, short-haul and long-haul airlines for the punctuality of their operations. The Efficiency Award for cargo carriers is based on the total volume of cargo loaded and unloaded in the shortest ground time. The Punctuality Awards reward the most punctual airlines in terms of on-time performance on arrival and departure.

• Like last year the Efficiency Award goes to Cathay Pacific Cargo, which operates five flights a week from Brussels Airport using a modernised fleet of Boeing 747-400 freighters. Cathay Pacific Cargo achieved the highest productivity in the shortest turnaround time.
• The Punctuality Award Regional Airline was presented to bmi regional, which operates nine flights a day from Brussels to East Midlands, Edinburgh and Leeds/Bradford.
• The Punctuality Award Short Haul Airline was presented to Swiss, which operates a six-daily service to Zürich and a two-daily service to Basel.
• The Punctuality Award Long Haul Airline was for the second time in a row awarded to United Airlines, which operates a daily service to Washington.