ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards - Description and History

The ATW airline industry awards program was born in 1974 to recognize excellence. Originally a modest program, the ATW Awards over the intervening decades have gained in importance and stature to become one of the most coveted and valued honors a company or a person in the airline industry can receive.

The ATW  Award winners are selected by the magazine's editorial staff after a lengthy consultative process. Nominations are solicited from the magazine's editors around the globe, and also are accepted from any person or organization within the industry. The nominations can cover all 11 potential award categories. However, the number of award winners in any given year never exceeds seven.

Two awards are presented every year: Airline of the Year and Regional Airline of the Year. Two more, Passenger Service and Aviation Technology Achievement, are presented in most years. Thus, there is room for only two or three more awards in most years.

The ATW editorial team of highly experienced professionals makes every effort to select the best candidate in each award category, and then selects the awards to be presented on the strength of each nomination in relation to the other nominations. Winners are notified about two months in advance of publication of the February issue.
The awards are presented during a gala dinner. In even-numbered years the dinner is held in Singapore on the eve of the opening of the Asian Aerospace show. The location for the odd-numbered year dinner has been Washington, D.C.

Here are some of the criteria used to consider an award in each category. Above all of these criteria, however, is the requirement that award winners have a superior safety record.
 

AIRLINE OF THE YEAR AWARD

The most coveted award for overall excellence goes to a major or large international airline which over the years has exhibited outstanding performance in a number of airline disciplines. For an airline to win this award it should have provided exemplary service to the public while compiling a model safety record, been innovative in developing new markets and services, been a leader in applying new technology to the airline industry, and consistently been profitable. In most years the winner of this award has won two or more of our other awards previously.
   Past Winners

REGIONAL AIRLINE OF THE YEAR AWARD

This is our top award for the regional segment of the airline industry. It has the same basic criteria as our Airline of the Year award. The winner should have displayed consistent superior service to the public, and in some cases to its parent airline. We, like everyone else, are still wrestling with a precise definition for a regional airline. For now we are confining it to airlines which have essentially short-haul operations using predominantly less-than-100-seat transports.
   Past Winners

DECADE OF EXCELLENCE AWARD

ATW's Decade of Excellence award recognizes an individual or company that has made the greatest contribution to the airline industry in advancing its cause, profile, profitability, technology or safety record.

   Past Winners

VALUE AIRLINE OF THE YEAR AWARD

A new addition to our group of top awards the Value Airline of the Year Award is expected to become of the most sought after as it acknowledges a new breed of airline that delivers outstanding value to passengers being a travel enabler for millions through lower fares, value to employees and to shareholders and/or investors.

For an airline to win this award it must also have an outstanding safety record, completed relevant safety audits, and be at the forefront of social and environmental responsibility. Typically the winner will also be a trend setter and innovator in route development, social media applications and in-flight innovations bringing value for the traveler.

   Past Winners

AVIATION TECHNOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS AIRLINE TECHNOLOGY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD)

The last of our three "major awards," this one goes to a manufacturer serving the airline industry that has developed a product that has significantly advanced airline service, capability, efficiency and/or airline safety. To date it has gone chiefly to makers of transports, engines and avionics, but could go to manufacturers of other products such as computers and other support equipment. The case must be made that the product established a significant improvement from what had come before rather than an evolutionary step-advance in a process shared by many manufacturers.
   Past Winners

PASSENGER SERVICE AWARD

Next to our Airline of the Year awards, this is probably the most valued by airlines for its value in the marketplace. It goes to an airline that has been innovative and consistently superior in providing outstanding quality passenger service at a fair price. One measure of this is public acceptance and reputation. Innovation is especially important in this category. 
   Past Winners

AIRLINE MARKET LEADERSHIP AWARD
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS MARKET DEVELOPMENT AWARD)

This award goes to an airline--passenger, cargo or both--which has developed a new market, either a new city-pair, or customer base, and done exciting things. These can be either new types of service bringing new customers to the airline industry, or entering markets and drawing business away from other carriers. An important consideration in the selection is whether the airline is making any money with the new program; success is essential. We are looking for new things that will last.
  Past Winners

JOSEPH S. MURPHY INDUSTRY SERVICE AWARD

Another important award, the Industry Service Award is the only one going to an individual or an organization, inside or outside the industry, who has performed outstanding service benefiting the airline industry.
It can go to a person such as a government or regulatory figure whose work has helped airlines in general. It can go to a person in the industry who has given his or her time beyond the scope of his or her own airline to benefit other airlines or the industry, and it can be awarded to organizations that make the airline industry a better place
This award can also be called the PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD and go to an individual in the airline industry who has brought credit to the airline industry by performing outstanding public service. 
   Past Winners

AIRLINE TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AWARD
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AWARD)

This award goes to an airline, small or large, that has displayed innovative, superior management in applying technology to bring exceptional service to the traveling and shipping public. It can be awarded to an airline that has developed advanced airline equipment or systems, or has made a significant contribution by working with manufacturers to develop these items. It can also go to an airline that has demonstrated superior management of its technology in such fields as maintenance, computer systems, communications or marketing to list some examples. 
   Past Winners

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AWARD

This category covers airlines that have demonstrated innovative, exceptional performance in managing their finances. Generally the winners have been airlines that have enjoyed financial success over a period of years. There is an emphasis on outstanding performance over time rather than short-term spectaculars. The case for these winners often is made through empirical examination of numbers, and thus can be one of the least subjective awards given.
  Past Winners

LABOR/MANAGEMENT RELATIONS AWARD

This award goes to an airline that has demonstrated originality and outstanding performance in its relations with labor. Generally the winners have been airlines that have utilized extra efforts from both labor and management to continue providing superior service to the traveling public.

We have found that airlines that get along best with themselves generally have the best relationships with their customers. In this era of downsizing and other items of stress in labor relations the focus is on picking an airline that has found a way to weather these challenges with some new and imaginative programs to ensure better labor/management relations in the future.
  Past Winners

CARGO AIRLINE OF THE YEAR AWARD
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS CARGO DEVELOPMENT AWARD)

This award goes to an airline that has displayed creativity in developing new markets and/or services in airline freight or express service. It can go to any size airline or combination carrier as well as all-cargo airlines. The new service should provide new capabilities to the shipping public while also providing positive financial returns to the airline.
   Past Winners

AIRLINE PUBLIC RELATIONS AWARD

An award for airlines that have exhibited outstanding performance in public and/or press relations. It goes to an airline public/media relations department that has demonstrated originality and extra effort in presenting an accurate and positive picture of its airline and/or the airline industry in general. In this award we look for the combination of an airline management that is willing to commit the resources for an outstanding media/public relations program and the staff that can deliver the product.
   Past Winners

PHOENIX AWARD 

Created in  2004: ATW introduces a new award to acknowledge the dramatic changes that have occurred in commercial aviation since the dawn of the new Millennium.  The Phoenix Award celebrates airlines that have achieved a commercial rebirth through a life-changing transformation.
   Past Winners

PLEASE NOTE: 1993 ATW Awards 20 Years of Excellence were special one-of-a-kind awards:

International Services: Singapore Airlines
Short-haul Service: Southwest
Cargo Service: Federal Express
Passenger Service: Swissair
Airline Technology: Boeing Commercial Airplane Group