16 October 2009

Christchurch Wins New Zealand Airport of the Year

Continuing their winning streak, Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has won the Airport of the Year award at the annual New Zealand Airports Association conference last night.  This award is for any outstanding airport initiative, and the CIAL submission was based on their route development and tourism marketing strategy. The other finalist was Auckland International Airport.

“This has been a year of awards for Christchurch Airport,” said CIAL Chief Executive Jim Boult. “I’m proud of our staff and their sterling efforts, as these awards reflect the hard work the whole company puts in. We work hard at our partnerships with airlines and tourism organisations, and I’m delighted this work has been recognised, both nationally and internationally.”

Earlier this year CIAL won the Oceania, Asia-Pacific and Global awards for route marketing at the prestigious international Routes Airport Marketing Awards, which are voted on by airlines all around the world.

Jim Boult says he believes there are a number of factors which contributed to their win last night, including successful travel industry partnership, tourism campaigns, airline relationships and operational excellence.

“We’re also fortunate in having a very collaborative approach in Christchurch, where different organisations work together to attract visitors to our region. We thank all our industry partners for the great work we’ve done together to grow tourism.”