RIGA International Airport - the best airport in Scandinavia & the Baltic’s

RIGA International Airport - the best airport in Scandinavia & the Baltic’s


RIGA International Airport (www.riga-airport.com) has won the prestigious Routesand OAG (Official Airline Guide) Airport Marketing Award in Europe as the best airport in Scandinavia and the Baltics leaving behind Copenhagen and Stockholm airports.

“Routes Marketing Awards (www.routesonline.com) are internationally accredited and deemed to be the most prestigious in the industry. This is because they are the only award based purely on rewarding excellence in route development and nominated only by airlines,” says the Routes Development Group.

„The way we are working now is considered the best performance of an airport in the region, as the airlines themselves have confirmed. We take it as a proof that we are on the right track and our efforts in development and maintenance of positive and productive relationship with the airlines have been fruitful. Indeed, it is a high and prestigious award that RIGA International Airport has received! It can be compared to the Academy Award Oscar in motion pictures”, said Krišjānis Peters, Chairman of the Board of RIGA International Airport.

The main areas of focus to qualify for the award are:

• What were the key initiatives an airport has undertaken to attract new airlines, launch new routes and continue to develop relationships with existing airline partners?
• What had the airport done to market itself to its catchments area and drive traffic onto new routes?
• Evidence of innovation in the airports marketing approach.
• The results achieved in terms of new routes launched and traffic growth.

The awards are not based on the size of an airport’s budget but on how creatively an airport has made the most of the resources it has available, how they have tried to develop airline relationships, keep existing routes and secure new ones.

There are five award categories:  Scandinavia and the Baltics, Western Europe, Mediterranean & Southern Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe as well as the main – European Region award.

• Riga Airport (Latvia) triumphed in Scandinavia and the Baltics, with Copenhagen (Denmark) and Stockholm (Sweden) being Highly Commended.
• Brussels Airport (Belgium) was crowned winner of the Western Europe category, with Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Dublin (The Republic of Ireland) being Highly Commended.
• The Mediterranean and Southern Europe saw Athens Airport (Greece) as the winner.
• Hamburg Airport (Germany) won in the category of Central and Eastern Europe, while Munich Airport (Germany) and Zurich Airport (Switzerland) were both Highly Commended.

The awards were presented at the Gala Dinner of the 4th Routes Europe - the key networking event for the region's air service development industry. The event was attended by more than 600 representatives of the European aviation industry and 70 airports.

The Routes Europe conference is the meeting place for the executives of the leading airlines and international airports of Europe where the industry professionals address the burning issues of the business and meet in bilateral debates. The Routes conferences play a decisive role in planning new routes.

Source: RIGA International Airport; ROUTES EUROPE Airport Marketing Award