Emirates SkyCargo, Thai Airways and Southwest Airlines won Diamond Awards at Air Cargo World’s Air Cargo Excellence (ACE) awards ceremony held on March 14 at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar. The three airlines won the top awards in their respective tonnage categories at the 9th annual ceremony.
Carriers were given scores for customer service, performance, value and information technology.
Ten airports from around the world received Air Cargo Excellence awards. They were rated on performance, value, facilities and operations.
The awards are based on surveys done by Air Cargo World readers.
Emirates won the top prize in the Air Carrier – 800,000 or More Tonnes category, while Cathay Pacific received the Platinum Award.
“This award draws attention, not only to the excellence of our operations, but the excellence of our team throughout the network,” Ram Menen, Emirates divisional senior vice president cargo, said. “It has been a pleasure to see Emirates SkyCargo not only take to the skies, but become one of the world’s leading air cargo carriers.”
Trailing Thai Airways, Nippon Cargo Airlines snagged the Platinum Award in the Air Carrier – 300,000 to 799,999 Tonnes category. Southwest Airlines got the Diamond Award in the Air Carrier – Up to 299,999 Tonnes category, while Swiss WorldCargo received the platinum award.
“This prestigious recognition represents the tremendous commitment and hard work of employees in many different capacities across our system,” Matt Buckley, Southwest Airlines’ vice president of cargo and chargers, said. “We are honored to receive this award, however we realize this is a journey and we will continue to work diligently towards improving the customer experience.”
Airlines receiving Gold Awards were Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Lufthansa, Etihad Airways and Alaska Airlines came close to getting an award.
In North America and Europe, the airports were divided by region and ranked in three size categories: airports with up to 399,999 tonnes of airfreight, airports with between 400,000 and 999,999 tonnes and airports with more than 1 million tonnes.
In North America going from least to most tonnes, LA/Ontario International Airport in Los Angeles, Toronto Pearson International Airport and Ted Stevens Anchorage International each won Diamond.
“We are honored to receive this evaluation from our customers and will use it as a gauge in our continued effort to improve ourselves as a high value airport and a world nexus for air cargo,” said John Parrott, airport manager at Anchorage.
In Europe, Frankfurt Airport won Diamond in the 1,000,000 or more category and Leipzig/Halle Airport took Diamond honors in the 400,000 to 999,999 division. Zurich Airport and Munich Airport tied for Diamond in the up to 399,999 tonnes category.
The volume of freight being handled at Leipzig/Halle Airport continue to grow in 2013 When compared to 2012, the volume of freight rose by 6.1 percent to approximately 136,286 tonnes during the first two months of the year.
“This repeated honor represents both recognition and motivation for us and it clearly shows that our customers continue to acknowledge the commitment of all the employees and partners working here and I would particularly like to thank them for this,” said Dierk Näther, managing director of Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Singapore Changi Airport won amongst Asian airports that saw 1 million or more tonnes of cargo, while Sydney Airport won in the Asian airports’ 400,000 to 999,999 Tonnes category.
Arturo Merino Benitez Airport in Santiago received the Diamond for Latin America, and Dubai International Airport snagged the award for the Middle East.
“The ACE Survey provides a benchmark for the industry with quantifiable customer feedback on key performance measurements for airlines and airports,” said Steve Prince, publisher of Air Cargo World. “The response to this year’s survey surpassed previous years with 4,139 ratings submitted covering 100 airports and 62 airlines throughout the world. This high level of interest reveals strong, positive proof of the value and worth that the air cargo stakeholders have for the survey and awards.”
Of the 100 airports on the survey, only 46 were rated above the industry average and 31 of the 62 airlines achieved higher ratings than the industry average.