16th Brussels Airport Aviation Awards presented

On Wednesday evening, 8 March, according to annual tradition the Brussels Airport Aviation Awards were presented. With these awards, Brussels Airport wants to honour airlines and partners who in 2022 have excelled in the area of punctuality and performance, network development and safety and environment. 11 awards will be presented during a live partner event.

Brussels Airport has been organising the Aviation Awards since 2007, in order to reward the airlines and partners for an exceptional performance. This year, awards were presented in 11 different categories.

Performance and Punctuality Awards

The Performance and Punctuality Awards are presented to passenger and cargo airlines that excel in punctuality and performance. Punctuality is the best on-time performance, that is with an arrival or departure within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. The performance for cargo is calculated using the number of weekly flights, number of destinations, total quantity of cargo flown, cargo per flight and the growth in cargo tonnage.

The airline that contributed most last year to the development of Brucargo was Ethiopian Airlines. The airline currently operates 7 weekly scheduled flights between Brussels and Addis Ababa and achieved a strong traffic growth in 2022 of 8%. The other nominees were Air Belgium, Qatar Airways, Sichuan Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

The Punctuality Awards are for the airlines with the best on-time performance. In 2022, Air Europa was the most punctual airline. They operate two daily flights to Madrid and previously won this category in 2013. Air Europa performed just slightly better than the other airlines nominated in this category: Finnair, airBaltic, KLM and ITA Airways.

This year, the Punctuality Award for long haul airline goes to Qatar Airways. They fly daily to Doha and also won this award in 2016. The other nominees in this category were Air Belgium, Emirates, United Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines.

Cargo Awards

There are two awards specifically for cargo stakeholders and partners at Brussels Airport for innovation, growth and partnership.

The Brucargo Award was introduced in 2012 to shine the spotlight on our partners at Brucargo. This year, this award goes to Aviapartner Cargo, for their strong contribution to the Brucargo community and considerable efforts for Air Cargo Belgium. The other nominees in this category were Air Cargo Belgium, ACIC Operator, dnata, and Hongyuan Group.

Expeditors are constantly raising the bar for pharma transport, with their expertise they are the logical choice for the pharma industry, and they are the largest user of the Airside Pharma Transporters. The other nominees in this category alongside Expeditors were Herfurth Logistics, Kuehne & Nagel, Hongyuan Group and Ziegler.

Environment and Safety Awards

The Environment and Safety Awards are presented to airlines or partners that have made a special contribution to the environment and the on-going improvement of safety standards and awareness.

The Environment Award went to Safran Aircraft Engine Services Belgium. This company is investing in a new building Brussels Airport and it will embed itself here in a sustainable manner. The new building will be equipped with many sustainable techniques such as fossil-free heating through heat pumps, solar panels, thorough insulation and therefore a very low EPC value, rainwater buffering and infiltration, and green roofs. On a day to day basis this company reduces its environmental impact by a zero-waste system of surface treatment of metals, heat recovery, and company fleet electrification.

Brussels Airlines Maintenance receives the Safety Award for its collaborative and effective safety audit, ultramodern and digitised support systems.

Network Development Awards

The Network Development Awards go to airlines that start new routes or have achieved a significant growth in passengers or cargo volumes.

The award for Cargo Airline 2022 goes to Air Belgium, for starting up their full-cargo activities with ultramodern B747-8 and A330 aircraft, which strengthen the growth at Brussels Airport thanks to the successful partnership with Hongyuan Group. The other nominees were Ethiopian Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways.

Transavia, which started up its base in Brussels last year expanding its presence in the Benelux, receives this year’s Short Haul Award. The other nominees were Corendon, FlyOne, PLAY and SunExpress.

United Airlines can take home this award thanks to the complete recovery of their traffic and the enormous growth of their three-city network in the United States; they are the largest non-Belgian long haul airline at Brussels Airport. The other nominees in this category were Air Belgium, Hainan Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Air Canada.

This year, we are also presenting a Diamond Award. This Award is not presented each year, but only to highlight an exceptional performance of an organisation or individual. This year, the Diamond Award goes to the staff of TUI fly. A highly motivated airline team that mobilises all departments to meet the operational challenges that can arise at its domestic airport, whether it be organising transfers or handling baggage. The passengers are at the centre of the staff's priorities and they do everything possible to offer them a holiday in the best possible conditions.

Brussels Airport congratulates all winners and nominees for their great performances.