TPA Wins Back-to-Back Honors for Marketing and Customer Service

(February 27, 2014) - Tampa International Airport was named the Overall Winner of the 2014 Routes Awards, taking first place over all airports in the entire Americas region for its marketing efforts.

The awards were presented in San Salvador, El Salvador, on February 24. As overall winner in the regional heat of the Routes Awards, Tampa International Airport will represent the Western Hemisphere at the Routes World competition in Chicago this September.

The Routes Awards are regarded as the most prestigious awards in the industry, voted for and judged by the airline network planning community. The airlines provide input on which airport or tourism authority provides the best overall marketing services, delivers the most effective results, and creates smart and innovative techniques to establish new or maintain and develop existing routes. Tampa International Airport was also named winner among airports serving 4-20 million passengers.

“This is a major victory for our entire Marketing and Air Service Development team and for our partners at Visit Tampa Bay, Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the Tampa Hillsborough County Economic Development Corporation, the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, and AAA Auto Club South,” Tampa International Airport’s VP of Marketing Chris Minner said. “With so many airports developing new air service routes this past year, the competition has never been stronger. This validates the outstanding work that our team and our community partners did in 2013, launching new direct Copa Airlines flights to Panama, expanding our Edelweiss Air frequency to Zurich, adding several weekly flights to three Cuban cities, and bringing in new daily flights to Seattle on Alaska Airlines.”

In giving the award, the Routes judges cited the airport's collaboration with its community partners.

“I could not be more proud of our team and the work they’ve done to deliver on TPA’s promise of serving this region with new international and domestic air service,” Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano said. “The international recognition of winning the Routes Awards isn’t just a big win for our airport, but for the entire Tampa Bay area as we continue to create more direct pathways for business and leisure travelers.”

The Routes Award comes on the heels of the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) recognition by Airports Council International, announced just five days earlier. The ASQ Award names TPA third in North America for a second straight year and third in the world in customer satisfaction, for airports 15-25 million passengers, up from last year’s fifth place finish.

The ASQ survey is the considered the industry benchmark for airport quality, with 48 North American commercial service airports participating, in addition to more than 200 airports abroad. ASQ surveys a random selection of 1,200 TPA passengers each quarter, measuring the airport’s performance across more than three dozen critical areas.

In addition to high marks for overall ambience, ACI noted Tampa’s significant improvements in passenger satisfaction with airport security, including wait time at checkpoints. TPA also received improved marks for airline check-in, including wait time and helpfulness of check-in staff. ACI credited Tampa’s policy of working directly with its airline partners to ensure the highest level of service for passengers.

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