In the second of a three-part feature, Routesonline takes a closer look at the organisations shortlisted in three categories of the World Routes Awards 2019.
Today (Tuesday, 26 April) the Routes Europe air service development forum was officially handed over from Kraków in Poland to Belfast in Northern Ireland – the destination for 2017.
The news that Norwegian has selected the Irish regional airport to launch new transatlantic links to Boston and New York in 2016 and 2017, respectively, was unexpected and showed how the airport is working with local partners and the world’s airlines to develop enhanced global connectivity.
Tourism Ireland was also named as the winner in the Destination Marketing category, while Halifax Stanfield International Airport was honoured in the Under 4m Passengers category; Prague Airport in the 4m-20m Passengers category; Copenhagen Airports in the 20m-50m passengers category and Dubai Airports in the over 50m category.
The significant increase in business from Northern Ireland residents during 2014 was a result of the airport’s route network growth and operator daa investing further in promoting Dublin Airport directly to consumers in Northern Ireland.
The hosting of Routes Europe in the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast, in April 2017 will bring significant benefits to the city, country and entire Ireland, said Minister Arlene Foster, head of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the Northern Ireland Executive at the formal announcement of the 2017 edition of the forum.
Just as its aviation heritage developed, Belfast has bloomed as a destination from very humble beginnings after starting out as a small hamlet with fertile land along the mouth of the Lagan. It is now emerging as a developing business and leisure destination as it moves away from its historic industries such as shipbuilding to develop as a centre for the arts, higher education, business, and law.
