Kl International Airport Wins Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards

KLIA emerged as winners in the ‘Overall’ and the ‘Over 20 Million Passengers’ categories beating five other shortlisted airports.

SEPANG - Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of the Malaysian aviation industry were further acknowledged when it received the prestigious Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards for the Overall category as well as the ‘Over 20 Million Passengers’ category beating other hubs in the region. The awards were presented during the Gala Dinner in conjunction with Route Development Forum Asia 2018 (Routes Asia) in Brisbane.

The annual Routes Asia Marketing Awards are widely regarded as the most valuable awards in the route development and aviation industry as the awards are voted and judged by the airline network planning community. They recognised the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services.

In 2017, nine new airlines flew to Kuala Lumpur and 25 new routes were launched. Overall passenger traffic grew by more than 11.2% to 58.6 million and recorded an additional of 30,535 commercial aircraft movements, making up the total to 386,054 movements.

Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, managing director of Malaysia Airports said, “I am overjoyed that KLIA has been picked as the overall winner in the highly regarded regional heat of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards via a competitive voting and judging process. This is on top of KLIA emerging as the winner in the ‘Over 20 Million Passengers’ category beating five other shortlisted airports”.

Malaysia Airports has been innovative in creating its airline marketing strategy to promote the desired destinations. Last year, Malaysia Airports collaborated with Tourism Malaysia and created a ‘Joint International Tourism Development Programme’. This programme will see the airport and tourism body match 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. Looking back, I would say we have been well rewarded for our efforts, which saw us launched 25 new routes and nine new passenger airlines for KLIA in 2017,” added Badlisham.

The double recognition displayed a remarkable growth achieved by KLIA through its collaborative approach and outstanding marketing efforts. This will further encourage Malaysia Airports to continue working harder this year and come up with more innovative programmes that foster closer ties with its partners and stakeholders. As the overall winner, KLIA will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards in Guangzhou, September this year.