The winners of the fifth annual IATA “Eagle” awards, were announced at the World Air Transport Summit/IATA Annual General Meeting in Shanghai, China, 3 June.

In the aftermath of September 11, reduced traffic volumes caused a crisis in the revenue budgets of both airlines and many air navigation and airport service providers. IATA made a call on States, regulators, airports and air navigation service entities to provide relief from the ever-rising costs of aviation infrastructure.

The panel decided that four airports deserved special recognition and were awarded the 2002 IATA Eagle Awards: State of Hawaii Airports System, Singapore Changi, Hong Kong and Cyprus Airports.

The panel also identified the following six airports as having made significant progress in controlling costs and charges: Athens, Dubai, the Maldives Airport Company, Seoul Incheon, San Francisco and Boston Massachusetts.

A number of air navigation service providers have made attempts to contain both costs and charges since September 11. The following four were praised for their efforts: the Irish Aviation Authority, Airservices Australia, NAV CANADA and the Czech Air Navigation Services entity.

Pierre J. Jeanniot, IATA Director General & CEO said: “It is very gratifying that, at a time of extreme financial difficulty for the airline industry, certain infrastructure service providers are able to take a longer term view - and a view that encompasses air transport as a system, which in turn contributes massively to world travel and tourism. I salute the 2002 “Eagle” winners.”

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