Twenty air carriers and airports from around the globe were honored during the annual Air Cargo Excellence Awards ceremony held March 10 in Los Angeles. Winners in each category received the Diamond Award, followed by Platinum Awards to the runners up and Gold Awards to third place.
For photos of the event, click here. All photos are available for download on Flickr.
Air Cargo World spoke with several of the winners following the ceremony.
Emirates Sky Cargo took the Diamond award for air carriers carrying more than 800,000 tonnes.
“We’re proud to win this prestigious award,” said Nabil Sultan, divisional senior vice president, cargo at Emirates. “We want to thank all the freight forwarders who voted for us. Most importantly, I thank all of our staff who have done an excellent job.”
Sultan also credited the Dubai airport as being an integral part of Emirates success as well as the airlines’ effort to expand its infrastructure.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol took the Diamond Award for airports in Europe handling more than 1,000,000 tonnes.
“We’re very excited about it. We’re very proud that along with Frankfurt, we are on top,” said Enno Osinga, senior vice president, cargo at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. “We’re the top two performing airports in Europe. The growth we experienced last year is continuing this year. It’s quality and quantity and we’re very happy about it.”
Southwest Airlines is another perennial winner, taking the Diamond Award in the up to 299,999 tonnes category.
“We’re thrilled,” said Wally Devereaux, senior director, cargo and charters, at Southwest. “It’s an honor to be recognized by our customers, the freight forwarders. It’s an important award for us.”
Swiss WorldCargo won the Platinum Award for air carriers that move up to 299,999 tonnes of cargo.
“I hope that it’s still to the high-standing quality we do for the customers,” says Urs Stulz, Swiss WorldCargo vice president for central services.
In the future, the carrier is focusing on its e-business, such as E-freight and the e-air waybill, Stulz says.
For a second year in a row, Santiago Airport won the Diamond Award for airports in Latin America. Mario Maechtig credits Santiago Airport’s cargo operators and warehouses for receiving the award.
“Ninety-nine percent of the win is for them,” he says.
Maechtig says the airport plans to have a new 5,000-square-meter (53,819-square-foot) terminal for couriers in 2015.
Lufthansa Cargo received the Platinum Award for carriers that move 800,000 or more tonnes.
“It’s a great recognition of what we are doing in the progress and services,” says Achim Martinka, vice president Americas, at Lufthansa Cargo. “At the same time, it’s a motivation to keep working.”
The airline also has plans in the works, including taking delivery of two more 777s, investing US$1 million in its information technology infrastructure and building the Lufthansa Cargo Center in Frankfurt.
Click here if you want to see the full air carrier and airport results.