The ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards 2024 recognise excellence and achievement across a whole range of disciplines of airport activity. This year, the main award category, the Best European Airport, will focus on across-the-board airport resilience encompassing all its aspects, such as strategic, financial, operational, environmental, social, and more. In addition, airports can compete for four area-specific Awards, including Eco-Innovation, Digital Transformation, and HR Excellence.
The award entries will be assessed by a panel of expert judges from the European Commission, SESAR JU, and other key institutional stakeholders. Winners will be announced at the Conference Dinner at the ACI EUROPE Annual Congress and General Assembly, on Wednesday 3 July in Istanbul, Türkiye.
Best Airport Award
A special focus on across-the-board airport resilience
The Award winners will have implemented strategies pushing the airport business model into new territories, fostering new value creation models, and embracing transformation and flexibility while taking care of their people and the planet. The winning airports will have demonstrated a forward-thinking approach to airport management, considering external developments without allowing them to dictate their business strategies.
Airports are divided into five categories according to 2023 passenger traffic (under 5 million, 5-10 million, 10-25 million, 25-40 million, and over 40 million) and will be judged on excellence and achievement in the areas of operational management, leadership, and crisis communications, decarbonisation strategies, adaptability and resilience-building at every level of the organisation, staff training and best practice and commercial management, within the context of the airport’s sustainability strategy and financial recovery.
2023 Winners:
IN THE 5-10 MILLION PASSENGERS CATEGORY - Milano Linate Airport
IN THE 10-25 MILLION PASSENGER CATEGORY - Helsinki Airport (Porto – Francisco SA Carneiro Airport was also highly commended in this category)
IN THE 25-40 MILLION PASSENGERS CATEGORY - Athens International Airport (Brussels Airport and Avinor Oslo Airport were also highly commended in this category)
IN THE OVER 40 MILLION PASSENGERS CATEGORY - Rome Fiumicino Airport (iGA Istanbul Grand Airport, Barcelona El-Prat Airport and Madrid-Barajas Airport were also highly commended in this category)
Eco-Innovation Award
To compete for this award, airports need to provide details of one innovative project in one of the following sub-disciplines: Climate Change, Noise Management, Biodiversity and Wildlife Management, and Circular Economy.
2023 Winner: Gatwick Airport (Vienna International Airport was also highly commended in this category).
In partnership with
Digital Transformation Award
The Digital Transformation Award, an initiative of the SESAR Joint Undertaking in collaboration with ACI EUROPE, will recognise a European airport that has embraced digitalisation, adopting innovative technologies and procedures to improve the safety, capacity, efficiency, and environmental footprint of its operations.
To compete for this award, airports are required to provide details of the implementation of a solution that matches the SESAR vision of the Digital European Sky.
2023 Winner: Prague Airport (Rome Fiumicino Airport was also highly commended in this category).
HR Excellence Award
ACI EUROPE in partnership with its Leadership and Human Resources Forum, wishes to recognise an HR department from amongst ACI EUROPE Regular Members that has demonstrated excellence in managing human resources and developing the airport workforce for the future. The award aims to give exposure to initiatives that will help the airport community better assess and implement the new procedures and skills needed to develop its workforce. In assessing the applications, the judging panel will consider the various challenges facing HR directors and airport leaders, such as employee mobility, succession planning, training, well-being, change management, sustainability, and digitalisation.
This year, the focus of the award is on Leadership Competence: How HR is Supporting Leadership Capability and Transformation in the Changeable Workplace.
2023 Winner: Bologna Airport (Prague Airport was also highly commended in this category).