FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Skytrax World Airport Awards: Düsseldorf Airport Wins Renowned Award

Düsseldorf, Germany — A great honor for North Rhine Westphalia’s largest airport:  Düsseldorf Airport received first prize in the category “Best Regional Airport Europe” at the renowned Skytrax World Airport awards ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, April 10.  That means travelers find Düsseldorf Airport to be the best European airport for its size.  Moreover, in the category “20-30 Million Passengers,” Düsseldorf Airport ranked among the five best airports worldwide, and – for the first time – is among the 30 highest ranking airports of the world’s airports included in the ranking.

“The award is a major honor for the entire Düsseldorf Airport team,” says Christoph Blume, the airport’s CEO.  “We and our partners work hard every day to keep improving the airport.  The award is based on the opinions of our travelers – and they confirm that we are on the right track.”  The award was accepted in Geneva on behalf of Düsseldorf Airport by Lutz Honerla, VP Marketing & Strategy.

“It’s been a very good year for Düsseldorf Airport, which scored among the top 30 airports of the world for the first time.  Passengers appreciate the airport’s convenient location and close proximity to the city center, among many other advantages,” explains Edward Plaisted, Chairman of Skytrax.

About World Airport Awards:
The World Airport Award is the most prestigious award in airport management.  Since 1999, UK-based business consultancy Skytrax has bestowed the awards annually.  This year’s awards are based on a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide at a total of 395 airports.  The Skytrax survey collects cross sections of opinions in 39 categories.

For more information, visit  www.worldairportawards.com    
Skytrax Media Contact: Peter Miller, Marketing Director
(Tel.: + 44 207 016 2197, E-Mail: miller@airlinequality.com)

In League with New York, London, Paris and More
Adding to Düsseldorf’s appeal, several US & Canadian cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Ft. Myers, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, Toronto) offer non-stop flights. Passengers who continue their journeys can choose from numerous convenient connections to Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and many other German and European cities. Throughout the year, 70 airlines serve 190 destinations worldwide – among them 125 European destinations. Another major advantage of the airport is its layout. With all gates in one terminal building, Düsseldorf Airport is the “airport of short distances” – guaranteeing minimum connection times of 35 minutes.

The airport is at the center of the Rhine Ruhr area, a bustling network of 53 connected cities and 18 million residents within 40 miles. It is the EU’s third largest market in volume and spending and equal to major metropolitan regions like New York, London and Paris. 500,000 companies are located in the area, including 5,000 offices of foreign corporations, the majority from the Netherlands, Japan and the USA. Many major international industry players, including Fujifilm Europe, Nokia Siemens, Novell, Ericsson, Deloitte & Touche, McKinsey, and Toshiba, are headquartered in Düsseldorf, which is a first-rate location for high-tech concerns.  International presence and fast accessibility – guaranteed by DUS being one of Germany’s major hubs – make the location highly attractive.

Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia, ranked 17 in GDP among the world’s major industrial centers, are also home to some of the most significant exhibitions and trade shows in the world. Of the 50 annual events at Düsseldorf’s Exhibition Center, 23 lead their industry worldwide, for example, printing technology (“drupa”), plastics and rubber (“K”), medicine (“MEDICA” and “REHACARE INTERNATIONAL”), leisure time (“boot”) or packaging (“interpack”).
For more information on Düsseldorf Airport, visit www.fly2dus.com

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Düsseldorf Tourism & Marketing GmbH is the visitors and convention bureau of the city of Düsseldorf. Its services include tourism and city marketing, conference and meeting marketing, hotel reservation services, fairs and convention services, city event ticket sales and advance ticket reservations. For more information, visitwww.visitduesseldorf.de.