KL International Airport Wins Double Awards At Routes Asia 2018

By Anthony Tan

VIRGIN Communications  

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

 

Overall Winner: KL International Airport

Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of the Malaysian aviation industry was acknowledged when KL International Airport (KLIA) received the prestigious Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards for the Overall Winner and Over 20 Million Passengers categories, beating other hubs in the region.

The Marketing Awards was held conjunction with Route Development Forum Asia 2018 or Routes Asia in short, which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 19 March, is regarded as prestigious in the aviation industry because of its unbiased judging by the participating airlines planning community that gives its vote. 

Business In Session

Thanks to these airlines recognise the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services, KLIA emerged the proud winner of two awards.

Despite the global challenging economic landscape in 2017, KLIA showed an impressive scorecard, securing nine new passenger airlines that flew to Malaysia’s capital city and launching 25 new routes.

Overall, passenger traffic grew by 11.2% to 58.5 million, with the hub recording an additional 30,535 commercial aircraft movements to contribute to a total of 386,054 movements last year.



Mohamed Sallauddin,

General Manager of Airline Marketing

Mohamed Sallauddin, Malaysia Airports general manager of airline marketing, considers this a “fantastic achievement and tremendous recognition of the success we have achieved so far”.

He adds, “Over the past two years we have reimagined how we work with airlines and this rewards the effort the team has made.

“We have come up with a series of coherent programmes for our carriers and the international ones we are pursuing. We will continue to work hard with the aim of hopefully winning an award at World Routes in Guangzhou.”

Before leaving for this event, Sallauddin had tipped MICE Malaysia Beyond that the last time KLIA won Routes Asia Marketing Awards was in 2009 under the Southeast Asia category. In that year, Singapore Changi Airport came in as “Highly Commended”. 

Destination Category: Highly commended - Japan National Tourism Organisation 

We were certainly happy for Sallauddin when he received the two awards this year. On hearing the news, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali was overjoyed with KLIA’s two wins at this highly regarded regional heat of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards.  

Malaysia Airports managing director
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali

We met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

When we met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

As can be seen, the airport operator has been innovative in coming out with its airline marketing strategies to promote the desired destinations. Its collaboration with Tourism Malaysia last year in the Joint International Tourism Development Programme saw the two matching the investments made by the airlines, trade and business partners in marketing campaigns that drive inbound tourism.

Malaysia Airports also undertook several missions to Europe, ASEAN, South Asia, India and China to meet up with over 30 airlines at their headquarters to market KLIA as a fast-growing hub besides participating in major travel trade shows to discuss with travel agents and airlines to bring in more charter flights into Malaysia.

As aptly put by Steven Small, brand director of Routes, “The results that KLIA achieved in 2017 speak for themselves. The relationships that they have fostered with their airline and tourism partners, showcase how a collaborative approach delivers remarkable growth.”

As the overall winner, KLIA will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards in Guangzhou on 17 September.

Here’s the full list of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards:

Overall Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Over 20 million passengers

_{Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport}

Highly commended: Singapore Changi Airport 

4 – 20 million passengers

Winner: Adelaide Airport
Highly commended: Auckland Airport

Under 4 million passengers

Winner: Vladivostok International Airport

Highly commended: Townsville Airport

Destination

Winner: Cook Islands Tourism Corporation

Highly commended: Japan National Tourism Organization 

The news is out! Routes Asia 2019 will be held in Cebu, Philippines from 10-12 March.


Over To You Cebu - ROUTES ASIA 2019

*   Note: Pictures taken from Route Asia 2018 Supplies