AOA member airports win awards and commendations at ACI Europe Best Airport Awards

The 12th Annual ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards were announced on 21 June during the Gala Dinner of the 26th ACI EUROPE Annual Congress. AOA members Glasgow, Heathrow and associate member Dublin Airports all won awards, with London City and Edinburgh Airports being “highly commended”.

The ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards are awarded every year at the ACI Europe Annual Congress. This years’ judging panel was drawn from a well-respected group of independent experts including EUROCONTROL, European Commission, European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), European Travel Commission (ETC) and FlightGlobal, as well as experts for specific awards, such as European Disability Forum’s Executive Committee for the Accessible Airport Award. ACI EUROPE counts over 500 airports in 45 European countries among its membership, which includes the AOA.

The Awards cover four traffic categories of airport and aims to recognise achievement in core activities such as customer service, facilities, retail, security, community relations and environmental awareness and operations; and were presented by Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE, Angela Gittens, Director General ACI World, Salvatore Sciacchitano, Executive Secretary, ECAC, Filip Cornelis, Acting Director, Aviation and International Transport Affairs, European Commission, Philippe Merlo, Director ATM EUROCONTROL and Catherine Mayer, Vice-President SITA.

AOA winners included:

• Glasgow Airport won the ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award in the ‘5-10 million passenger’ category, with the airport winning praise from the judges for its strong focus on performance, its facilities upgrade and greatly improved passenger experience through, for instance, the introduction of a real-time feedback model and the sharing of customer feedback on a weekly basis
• Heathrow Airport won this year’s ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award in the ‘over 25 million passengers’ category. The judges cited Heathrow’s effective operations enhancements, its partnership with ATC and airlines and its engagement with the community, environment and charitable causes; and
• The Accessible Airport Award went to AOA associate member Dublin Airport. The judges considered that the airport excels in accessibility features and facilities, including adult changing places, two separate relief areas for guide dogs, fully accessible retail and catering areas alongside with service level agreements for assistance that exceed the standards of ECAC Doc 30. The judges also cited Dublin Airport’s website accessibility, which is according to the AA standard of WCAG 2.0 – this is the recommended level to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities
• London City Airport was highly commended in the ‘under 5 million passenger’ category. The airport was recognised for the expansion and improvement of its facilities and for its focus on the passenger; and
• The highly commended airport in the ’10-25 million passenger’ category was Edinburgh Airport, for its impressive growth and economic benefits for the municipality and the whole of Scotland.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the AOA, said, “We congratulate all five AOA member for their outstanding achievements, which demonstrates that our airports are leaders in the aviation sector in Europe. We look forward to working with our members further to continue to grow and improve the sector, which will hopefully see them be even more successful next year’s ACI Europe Awards!”