Airports Council International (ACI) announced the winners of its 12th Best Airport Awards on June 21 at the ACI Europe General Assembly, Congress & Exhibition, which was hosted by Athens International Airport in Greece.
The judging panel for this year’s awards included FlightGlobal, EUROCONTROL, the European Commission, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the European Travel Commission (ETC).
The awards account for more than 500 airports in 45 European countries, which are then separated into four different traffic categories. They aim to recognize achievement in core activities such as customer service, facilities, retail, security, community relations and environmental awareness and operations.
The first award, which recognized airports in the ‘under five million passenger’ category, was awarded to Keflavik Airport in Iceland. The airport was acknowledged for its investments in improving operations and the passenger experience, as well as its involvement with the local community and its environmental policies.
The winner of the ‘5-10 million passenger’ category was Glasgow Airport in Scotland, which won praise from the judges for its strong focus on performance, its facilities upgrade and greatly improved passenger experience.
This year’s award in the ’10-25 million passenger’ category went to Brussels Airport on the basis of its key investment in the Connector, including the world’s first large scale remote screening of cabin baggage. The airport was also praised for its successful network developments and its improvements in public transport and parking facilities.
Finally, in the category for airports with ‘over 25 million passengers’, this year’s Best Airport Award went to London Heathrow Airport. The judges cited the airport’s effective operational enhancements, its partnership with ATC and airlines, and its engagement with the community, environment and charitable causes.