The 8th World Route Development Forum "ROUTES, Athens 2002", the largest Routes event ever, ended yesterday, with great success, reflecting signs of recovery for the aviation industry. The Forum was held in Athens - for the first time - during 22 - 24 September at the Astir Palace Resort, hosted and officially sponsored by Athens International Airport.

This leading international Forum, an event organized since 1995 by Routes, a company formed by some of the world's top aviation executives, this year attracted to Athens a record number of over 800 delegates from around the world, offering Greece a unique opportunity to promote the potential of the city of Athens and its new airport in view of the Olympic Games of 2004.

"Global aviation is showing signs of recovery, which is also reflected by the impressive participation in the ROUTES Forum in Athens this year. As far as Athens is concerned, a 6-7% increase in passenger traffic is expected for the year 2003", stated the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Athens International Airport, Dr. Yiannis Paraschis. "This year’s ROUTES Forum was the largest ever, with the participation of 160 airlines and 300 airports from around the world. This international meeting offered the Athens International Airport the excellent opportunity of presenting its business potential to high-ranking airline representatives bearing the responsibility of critical route development decisions".

Airport Marketing Awards

In the framework of the dinner hosted by Athens International Airport on Monday, September 23rd, 2002, at the Zappion Megaron, the Forum organizers also awarded the Airport Marketing Awards to the airports voted on the basis of their marketing impact on the development of new routes. Athens International Airport and Dubai Airport were the 2 airports awarded in the category of 5-15 million passengers for the year 2001. In addition, AIA received a special merit award in recognition of the success of its marketing team, who have overcome big challenges since airport opening in March 2001.

As regards other categories, the airports awarded were London City Airport (0-5 million passengers), Munich Airport (15-25 million passengers), and Amsterdam Airport (25+ million passengers).

A salutation was addressed at the dinner by the Managing Director of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games "Athens 2004", Mr. Ioannis Spanoudakis, whereas prominent guests from Greece and abroad, representing the aviation and the tourism industry, state authorities, the banking sector etc. were present.
The evening closed with an excellent performance of singer Mrs. Alkistis Protopsalti, who charmed the audience singing a selection of Greek and international songs.

The Chairman of Routes, Sir Gilbert Thompson, a most prominent aviation professional, stated: "It was the best and biggest Routes event that there has ever been. The delegates have expressed their satisfaction with the meetings they had in Athens, a venue they enjoyed enormously. The success of this year's event is particularly pleasing, given the problems that aviation suffered after September 11th. I cannot praise enough the role that AIA played in making this such a memorable event, a forum that surpassed everybody's expectations and attracted airlines from all over the world, who have now seen first hand the state-of-the art airport product and the strength of Athens as a tourist destination".