Turkish Cargo scoops Cargo Airline of the Year Award
30 / 04 / 2019
Turkish Cargo's Fatih Cigal collects the award from Ross Marino of sponsor dnata and event host Simon Calder
Turkish Cargo was voted Cargo Airline of the Year 2019 as the airfreight industry gathered in the UK for a night of celebration at Air Cargo News’ industry Oscars, now in their 35th year.
The Istanbul-hubbed airline secured the highest total number of votes cast by Air Cargo News readers to win the prestigious award for the first time in its history.
The award was collected by Fatih Cigal, Turkish Cargo’s senior vice president, marketing, from award sponsor dnata’s senior vice president international airport operations, Ross Marino.
In 2018, the airline saw its volumes increase by more than 20% as it added a host of new destinations.
The airline’s passenger arm moved to a new Istanbul hub earlier this year and it has been investing its freighter aircraft fleet, with a series of Boeing 777F on order.
Turkish Cargo has announced its strategy to be a top five carrier for high value and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products by 2022.
The awards were held at the Runnymede on Thames hotel on the banks of the river Thames and were presented by travel writer Simon Calder.
A total of 14 categories featured in the 2019 Cargo Airline of the Year awards, based on a mix of direct voting by supply chain professionals, company submissions, and two awards within the gift of the editorial team at Air Cargo News.
Shippers, freight forwarders and other industry sectors were asked to vote on the Air Cargo News website, over a two month period, for the airline that provides the best overall customer experience and service in each region.
Lufthansa Cargo was named Best Cargo Airline Europe, American Airlines won Best Cargo Airline Americas, the Asia Pacific award was won by Cathay Pacific, Ethiopian Airlines scooped the African award and the winner for the Middle East prize was Emirates SkyCargo.
In the judged categories, Hong Kong International Airport won the Freighter Hub of the Year award, dnata took the Ground Handler of the Year prize, Air Charter Service was declared Charter Broker of the Year, the hotly contested innovation award went to Nallian, AIA Cargo won the GSSA of the Year and Cargolux was declared Best Freighter Operator.
The editorial team declared AirBridgeCargo as Newsmaker of the Year for its investment in technology and rapid fleet expansion and DSV was gifted the Freight Forwarder of the Year award for its rapid and profitable growth over recent years.
The Air Cargo News team would also like to thank the sponsors of the awards for their support: AIA Cargo, Air Charter Service, Liege Airport, American Airlines, Brussels Airport, dnata, Chapman Freeborn Airchartering, Dunleavy White Global Executive Search, Network Aviation Group, CargoFlash and Wexco.
All the winners from the 2019 Cargo Airline of the Year Awards
