Istanbul, 9 March 2014: The 2014 Air Transport News Awards Ceremony took place in Ciragan Palace in the city were east meets west.
The evening opened with an excellent piano performance by the acclaimed musician Ms Evgenia Votanopoulou presenting the world premiere of Basil Athansiadis’s work, Straycat’s Dream.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker was delighted on the news of two key awards for the Qatar Airways Group. The airline was awarded “Airline of the Year” and Doha International Airport, managed by Qatar Airways, won “Airport of the Year” in the category of 10 to 30 million passengers.
“We are pleased to be recognised by Air Transport News and are proud of this accomplishment. For us, the awards clearly reflect the confidence of our passengers for the product and service that we offer. It is also a testament to the hard work of our staff who constantly strive to deliver consistent world-class service to our customers on air and on the ground.”
Dubai Airports was awarded the Airport of the Year category. Jamal Al Hai, Executive Senior Vice President, International Affairs & Corporate Communications, Dubai Airports stated: “We, at Dubai Airports are thrilled to have won the Air Transport News Award for Airport of the Year. Some of world’s best airports were competing for this prestigious award and we feel honoured that the readers of Air Transport News as well as the aviation experts in the Awards jury voted in favour of Dubai Airports.
I accept this award on behalf of all my colleagues, especially the frontline staff at Dubai Airports and our partners who ensure our customer service remains top-notch. This award is a validation of all their hard work and a great encouragement for all of us to continue keeping our customers happy.”
Being recognized as the Regional Aircraft Manufacturer of the Year for the second year in a row is a tribute to the entire Bombardier Commercial Aircraft team who are committed to delivering world-class service with world-class aircraft to its customers, said Mike Arcamone, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.
“We are deeply honored by the Air Transport News Engine Manufacturer of the Year Award which is really a fantastic start to the year of the CFM 40th anniversary. This recognition will reinforce our commitment to continue to always better serve the air transport market. We take it as a true testament to the faith the industry and our customers have in our products and in our ability to execute on our promises. On the behalf of all the entire CFM community, thank you very much.“ Jean Paul Ebanga, CFM, President & CEO
“At dnata, our vision is clear: to be the most admired air services provider in the world,” said Gary Chapman, President, dnata. “We constantly judge ourselves on our actions not our intentions so to be recognised by our industry peers as Ground Handler of the Year demonstrates that commitment . On behalf of the dnata teams around the world thank you.”
“We are thrilled to receive this award. We are thankful to our customers for voting us as the IT Company of the Year.” – Mr. Vipul Jain, Managing Director, Accelya Kale.
oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said: “oneworld is delighted to receive this honour from Air Transport News Airline Alliance of the Year– the unprecedented eighth “best alliance” award now in oneworld’s hands from across the world’s leading industry award schemes. It comes at a particularly exciting time for oneworld, as we welcome on board two more great airlines at the end of this month, in TAM and US Airways.”
‘Declan Collier, Chief Executive Officer, London City Airport said that the award Airport of the Year under 10 million was a tribute to the combined efforts of the airport team, who are constantly striving to improve on what is already end-to-end excellence. “London City Airport has the best transport links in the UK, is the most punctual airport in the UK and, for the business traveller, has the best location in the UK. We offer a unique time-based brand proposition – a 20 minute check-in and a 15 minute arrival – and we’re investing heavily in new technology to both measure and maintain that proposition. Our team members, wherever they work and whatever their job, know that they are part of delivering a better journey to the passenger and are proud to do so – this award recognises their commitment and their achievements.’
“We are very proud to have been voted by the readers of Air Transport News as the 2014 Cargo Airline of the Year. Many of the readers are our customers, and for them to have voted for us is a firm endorsement of the commitment and effort by our various SkyCargo teams around the network to deliver the best solutions and quality service to our customers every day. We thank everyone who voted for Emirates SkyCargo and honouring us with the prestigious award,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo.
Mr. Dimitris Gerogiannis, Managing Director of AEGEAN stated: “AEGEAN is greatly honored to be presented the 2014 Air Transport News ‘Regional Airline of the Year” award, one of the aviation industry’s prominent distinctions. For us, the award clearly reflects a vote of confidence from Air Transport News readers, who acknowledge and appreciate our continuous effort to deliver high- quality service. In 2013 we have achieved several key milestones. We have completed the acquisition of Olympic Air, a step which will accelerate productivity and efficiency improvements through network synergies and economies of scale, we have successfully expanded our international network, and returned to profitability. We will continue to support Greek tourism and the Greek economy by further expanding our international network and offering high-quality services to our passengers at competitive prices. I sincerely congratulate all my colleagues in AEGEAN who contribute every day with their commitment, hard work and skills in the continuous improvement of our performance.
“We are honored to receive this prestigious Award. This is an important recognition and I would like thank our passengers and the Jury who have given Norwegian such great references. I would also like to thank all the employees at Norwegian, who every day of the year do their utmost for our passengers. The award ‘’Low Cost Airline of the Year” is proof that brand new planes, friendly service and low fares are greatly appreciated,” said Norwegian’s CEO Bjørn Kjos for the Low Cost Airline of the Year Award
Mike Ambrose, ex Director General, ERA accepting the George Iatrou Lifetime Achievement Award said: ’I was lucky to hold a position of influence at a time in which the European Commission created enormous opportunities for the regional sector of the industry. Subsequently, the many and various initiatives coming from Europe’s legislators and regulators ensured that I was never without challenges and that the role of the European Regions Airline Association was, and remains, vital to the sector’s well-being.’
“I feel deeply honoured by the Air Transport News Woman of the Year prestigious Award. I would like to sincerely thank Air Transport News and the Jury in particular, for such a great honour. I was lucky to have been working for the past two decades in different key positions in aviation- the regulatory sector, the airline sector, and for the last four years , the airport sector – having the opportunity to get to know the different aspects of the same core business. I would like to take this opportunity to make a special reference to the organisation that I work for; Athens International Airport, being a pioneer Public-Private Partnership, has been distinguished and awarded throughout the years for its successful developmental strategy, in both its aeronautical and non-aeronautical sectors. And I feel confident that this personal award will reinforce my commitment towards working even harder for both corporate and personal achievements” said Mrs Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director Marking and Communications, Athens International Airport and ex CEO, Olympic Airways Services accepting the award of the Woman of the Year.
Finally, Dr Temel Kotil, CEO, Turkish Airlines accepting the award of the Leader of the Year said: “On behalf of Turkish Airlines, I am honoured to receive such a significant award, “Leader of the Year” from a distinguished online information source for the aviation industry; Air Transport News.
We are still proud of being awarded “Airline of the Year” in 2013, and this “Leader of the Year” award is the manifestation of the continued success of Turkish Airlines.
I assume that such an award is the fruit of our love and care for our business and passengers, this award records that Turkish Airlines is again the world’s rising star in the aviation.
We highly appreciate our award, as it will boost our ambition for our hard work on being always the best on our business”.
In particular, the winners by category are as follows:
-Regional Aircraft Manufacturer of the Year: Bombardier
-Aircraft Manufacturer of the Year: Boeing
-Engine Manufacturer of the Year: CFM
-Ground Handler of the Year: dnata
-IT Company of the Year: Accelya
-MRO Company of the Year: Lufthansa Technik
-Airline Alliance of the Year: oneworld
-Airport of the Year under 10 Million Passengers: London City Airport
-Airport of the Year 10-30 Million Passengers: Doha International Airport
-Airport of the Year: Dubai International Airport
-Cargo Airline of the Year: Emirates SkyCargo
-Regional Airline of the Year: Aegean Airlines
-Low Cost Airline of the Year: Norwegian
-Airline of the Year: Qatar Airways
-George Iatrou Lifetime Achievement Award: Mike Ambrose, ex Director General, ERA
-Woman of the Year: Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director Marking and Communications, Athens International Airport and ex CEO, Olympic Airways Services
-Leader of the Year: Dr Temel Kotil, CEO, Turkish Airlines
Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus Chairperson of the Jury said: ‘The jury has not had an easy task. Across the world we are seeing a growing number of excellent CEOs reorienting the companies they lead towards even greater efficiency throughout the aviation value chain. We are honouring remarkable personalities, and impressive achievements of companies, but the entire aviation sector is becoming highly professional and efficient; the award winners in that sense represent an industry that is getting its act together.”
Dr Kostas Iatrou, Managing Director of Air Transport News stated that: “Air Transport News honours for the third consecutive year the leader companies in the major categories of the air transport industry elected based on a democratic procedure. I want to congratulate all the winners for their achievement”