The Routes Awards

Medium Award Header

The Routes Awards are widely regarded as the most valuable awards for the route development community. Taking place at each regional event and culminating at Routes World, the awards celebrate the partnerships that drive global air connectivity. 

How the voting process works

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Airport and destination categories

When voting opens, airlines can nominate up to five airports and destinations that they feel have provided exceptional marketing support over the past twelve months. Airlines are asked to submit their votes in priority order. When drawing up the shortlist, their first choice receives 5 points, their second choice receives 4 points, and so on. 

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Airline category

Our airline award focuses on the importance of partnership in achieving successful and profitable routes. When voting opens, airports and destinations can nominate up to five airlines that have embodied this collaborative approach. When drawing up the shortlist, their first choice receives 5 points, their second choice receives 4 points, and so on. 


Who makes the shortlist?

  • When voting closes, organisations are split into their relevant categories and their scores are calculated, based on the votes they have received.
  • In the event of a tie, the airports or airlines that have achieved the highest year-on-year passenger growth in the last 12 months will be prioritised.
  • All shortlisted organisations are then asked to provide their submission, which details their activities. 

How the submissions are scored

The Routes team recruits a panel of airline judges to independently review the airport and destination submissions and submit their scores. Our panel marks the submission according to the following criteria:

Results and effectiveness

Route development content

Evidence of relationships
with airlines

Innovative marketing
techniques

Creative application

Who scores the submissions?

The judging panel for the airport and destination categories is drawn from key figures from the airline network planning community. The judging panel for the airline category is made up of editors of industry publications. Previous award judges have included:

Alex Featherstone

Alex Featherstone
Vice President, Network Planning and Alliances
Etihad Airways

Asdis Sveinsdottir

Asdis Sveinsdottir
Director Network Planning & Scheduling
Icelandair

Eric Tanner

Eric Tanner
Vice President Revenue Management and Network Planning
Flair Airlines


When are the winners announced?

The winners and highly commended organisations are announced at ceremonies during each Routes event. The overall winners from each of the regional awards are automatically shortlisted for the Routes World Awards, which will take place during the Networking Evening at Routes World. 

What does it take to win?

The Overall Winner for the Routes Awards at Routes World 2022 was Brussels Airport. Our judges recognised that the airport has a comprehensive marketing plan across all B2B and B2C channels. 

Upon winning the award, Léon Verhallen, Head of Aviation Development, said: “Our submission was about the way we work and the way we support our airlines so we’re delighted that this has made a difference and been recognised. We have secured a host of new airlines and destinations over the past year, as well as frequency increases from existing clients, and this is a fantastic achievement for the whole team.”

For more information on the Routes Awards, please contact Ellie Wells, Head of Marketing