Routes announced that the voting for this year’s OAG-Routes Airport Marketing Awards is officially underway. Once again airports from all corners of the globe will be rewarded and acknowledged for their excellence in air service development. Sponsored by OAG (Official Airline Guide), the awards are set to take place on 13th October during the Gala Dinner at Routes, the 14th World Route Development Forum in Kuala Lumpur.

More than 400 airlines have been asked to nominate and vote for their preferred airports using the following criteria: the airport’s market research activities, marketing communications activities, business case presentations for new market opportunities and the airport’s joint communication campaigns with third parties.

New this year: The OAG-Routes Awards incorporate categories based on geographical regions rather than airport size. These categories are Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Middle East & CIS as well as Africa.

“By changing the categories to regions we are giving all airports within each region the chance to be considered and win an award purely based on their marketing activities and their offer to airlines,” said Mike Howarth, Chairman of Routes. “The awards are about the effectiveness of the airport’s campaigns regardless of their size.”

The ORBIS Award for social responsibility will continue and two further awards will be introduced - the Lifetime Achievement and the Special Host Award.

Voting takes place on Routes’ official website and will be open for one month only, closing in late September. Once the shortlist has been established, the nominees will have to submit a case study to support their nomination, which will then be evaluated by a panel of industry experts from OAG and Routes.