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Newcastle Airport Crowned Overall Winner at the Routes World Awards 2024

Credit: Routes
Pictured: Chris Ion (Aviation Development Manager) and Leon McQuaid (Director of Aviation Development) of Newcastle Airport celebrate after picking up the title of Best Airport 0 - 5 million passengers and Overall Winner at Routes World Bahrain. Pictured with Ellie Wells (Head of Marketing) at Routes.

Newcastle Airport is celebrating after collecting two prestigious awards the Routes World 2024 Conference in Bahrain. 

Newcastle Airport took home the conference’s most prestigious award – ‘Overall Winner’ - which is the first time ever a UK Airport has achieved this accolade. Newcastle also won the ‘Best Airport’ award in the under five million passengers category for the second consecutive year, having first picked up the award in 2023. 

Nominated and voted for by airlines across the world, Newcastle Airport was recognised for its route development, operational excellence, strong relationships with airlines and for its expertise in marketing airline products and services in an innovative way. 

Nick Jones, Chief Executive Officer at Newcastle Airport, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won these prestigious Routes World awards."

"We would like to thank all our airline partners for nominating us and it is testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams who always strive for us to ‘be the Best Airport’."

“We really appreciate the continued support of our airline partners who continue to invest in the Newcastle market and deliver vital connectivity for the North East England region.” 

Graeme Ferguson, Head of Airports at InfraBridge, said: “Congratulations to the Newcastle Airport team on receiving the Routes World Awards."

“This recognition is a testament to Newcastle Airport’s long-term, sustainable strategy, driving both operational excellence and enhancing the customer experience for airline partners and passengers alike."

“We are proud to see Newcastle Airport continue to be recognised globally for its consistent efforts and dedication to high-quality service.” 

Councillor Tracey Dixon, Leader of South Tyneside Council and Chair of the LA7 shareholders, said: “These are yet more fantastic accolades and are well-deserved recognition of all those whose hard work and commitment help Newcastle Airport go from strength to strength – my congratulations to them all."

“Newcastle Airport is of pivotal importance to the North East of England, not only enhancing regional connectivity and providing a gateway to the world, but also helping to attract inbound tourism.” 

The Routes Awards are widely regarded as the most valuable awards for the route development community and celebrate the outstanding achievements of airports, airlines, destinations and individuals. 

Airlines are asked to nominate up to five airports and destinations that they feel have provided exceptional marketing support over the past 12 months. A panel of airline judges then independently reviews the submissions before choosing the winners. 

Newcastle Airport’s success comes after it was recently named UK and Ireland Airport of the Year 2024 at the Travel Industry Awards by TTG.

Newcastle Airport recently invested more than £20m in its terminal to improve the overall passenger experience. This included the redevelopment of the security search area, including the implementation of next generation security scanners, with 98% of passengers passing through security in under 10 minutes year-to-date. The Airport fully refurbished all of the catering outlets in the departure lounge and also opened Aspire’s first three-tier lounge product, a world first for lounge provider Aspire.