Routes CIS Awards Winners Announced!

Donetsk, Ukraine (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport crowned overall winner in final
regional heat of 2013

Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport was announced as the overall winner
of the third heat of this year's Routes Awards last night at a
spectacular networking evening which took place in the grounds of the
Donbass Arena, Donetsk hosted by International Airport Donetsk Sergey
Prokofiev. Almost 300 aviation professionals were gathered to witness
the presentation of the awards and to take part in the 3rd Routes CIS
- the only route development event for the entire CIS region.

The Russian airport, host of last year's Routes CIS forum, was
recognised for its strong passenger growth in 2012 and a submission
that clearly illustrated how they worked closely with their partner
carriers on the introduction of new services. During the last
calendar year the airport attracted a plethora of operators including
Aegean Airlines, Alitalia, Ukraine International Airlines, Azerbaijan
Airlines, Orenburg Airlines and lesser known carrier such as Air
Bishkek, East Air, Severstal and Kogalymavia.

"Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport has delivered true route
development results over the past year," said Nigel Mayes, VP
Commercial - Routes, UBM Live, during his awards presentation. "The
airport achieved a passenger growth of 13 per cent in 2012 and the
judges felt that with their working relationship with all of their
partners that they were worthy as overall winner from the CIS
region."

The award was collected by Andrey Klimenko, Deputy Commercial
Director of Koltsovo Airport's parent group, Airports of Regions, and
Ilona Fominykh, Head of Marketing at the company. "This is just
awesome," said a clearly delighted but shocked Fominykh after
discovering the results. "I can't put into words just how excited I
feel that we have been recognised for this prestigious award. It was
quite a surprise for us, but a great one."

"I would like to thank all the airlines that voted for us. This is
a clear sign of appreciation for the efforts our whole team has put
into our airline relations and air service development and shows that
what we are trying to achieve at Ekaterinburg and now also at the
other airports under the Airports of Regions banner, is a successful
formula," she added.

The Routes Awards recognise and reward the highest standards of
marketing activities undertaken by airports and tourism authorities.
The 2013 awards will see a number of innovations including taking a
blended approach to the nomination process, meaning the final
nominees those who were shortlisted by airlines using Routes' online
voting form together with a number of airports who were selected by a
panel of industry experts drawn from the airline network planning
community. This year the awards were split into two categories based
on the size of the airport.

Alongside the overall award, Ekaterinburg were also named as the
winner from the 'Under 4 Million Passengers' category with Pulkovo
Saint Petersburg Airport ranked top from the 'Over 4 Million
Passengers' category. Tbilisi International Airport and Kyiv -
Boryspil International Airport were also highly commended by the
panel of airline judges who studied this year's entries. These
included Tony Whitby, Director of Planning, Air Arabia; Ignacio
Bosch, Network Planning Analyst, Vueling and Angelika Perepelova,
Deputy Head of Network Development, Rossiya Airlines.

The full list of companies shortlisted under each award category
was as follows:

Over 4 Million Passengers

- Pulkovo Saint Petersburg Airport - Winner
- Kyiv - Boryspil International Airport - Highly Commended
- Domodedovo International Airport
- Sheremetyevo International Airport
- Vnukovo International Airport

Under 4 Million Passengers

- Ekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport - Winner & Overall Winner
- Tbilisi International Airport - Highly Commended
- Almaty International Airport
- Astana International Airport
- Karagandy International Airport

As overall winner of this regional heat, Ekaterinburg will be
automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Airport Marketing
Awards which will take place at the event in Las Vegas, 5-8 October
2013. Ekaterinburg join San Diego International Airport, Changi
Airport Group, Munich Airport and Kilimanjaro International Airport
who were announced as overall winners of the Americas, Asia, Europe
and Africa heats respectively, earlier in the year.

Notes to Editors

About Routes

- Routes organises world-renowned airline and airport networking events
through its regional and global Route Development Forums. Each year, there is one
global event and one regional event in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and CIS
respectively. http://www.routesonline.com

- Routes was founded in 1995 as part of the Manchester UK-based ASM Ltd.,
a consultancy specialising in the field of route development for airports.
http://www.asm-global.com [http://www.asm%E2%80%90global.com ]

- Routes and ASM were acquired by UBM Aviation Worldwide Ltd in August 2010.
From 1st August 2012 Routes, ASM and the Airport Cities Conference and Exhibition
become part of the UBM Live division of UBM plc.

- UBM Live connects people and creates opportunities for companies across
five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote
their brands and expand their markets. Through premiere brands such as MD&M, CPhI,
IFSEC, TFM&A, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, the Routes portfolio of
events, Airport Cities and many others, UBM Live exhibitions, conferences, awards
programs, publications, websites and training and certification programs are an
integral part of the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry
sectors. http://www.ubmlive.com

Follow us on twitter: @Routesonline, @TheHUBRoutes,
@VictoriaRoutes, @NLPROU, @airlineroute

ots Originaltext: UBM Live Routes Ltd
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further press information please contact: Victoria Jones, PR
Executive, Routes, T: +44(0)161-234-2730, E: pr@routesonline.com