Event Planners Take Note, the Best Airport in North America is…


Airline travel is an essential part of event planning. Like it or not, most event planners have to incorporate airline travel, and thus airport logistics, into their event planning process. How else would you get your delegates to their destination? Not everybody can drive due to distances.

Vancouver Has Been Ranked the Number One Airport in North America

Congratulations Vancouver!

According to Skytrax’s 2013 Airport awards, Vancouver enjoys the number one position for North America. And on top of that, it ranks eighth in the world. Not too shabby. Interestingly, Vancouver was the only airport in North America to make the top 10.

The awards are ranked by the travelers that utilize them. For the 2013 awards, there were over 12 million submissions.

Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. This, of course, would have an impact on improvements that the Vancouver Airport has seen in recent years. Infrastructure spending is a major win-win whenever any city is awarded the pleasure of hosting an Olympic Games.

Event Planning and Airports Go Hand in Hand

Airports and airline travel are a main component on most event planning checklists. It can also be a frustrating process due to the fact that there are so many outside factors occurring beyond the event planner”s control. Weather is a major factor. And it’s not only the weather where the event is occurring. An event planner is also expected to keep on top of weather in many cities as their delegates are departing from multiple cities.

airport meet and greet

There can also be many suppliers to deal with regarding transportation. Many event planners want meet and greet personnel on hand to greet their meeting’s delegates upon arrival and take them to prearranged transportation (yes another supplier). And then the ground transportation companies, in addition to watching the arrivals and departures, also have to pay attention to any potential issues which may affect their vehicles getting to and from the airport.

Just a sample of the logistics involved.

Areas that an event planner considers to make an airport event friendly:

  • the number of airlines servicing the airport
  • if the airport is a hub (or will the majority of delegates be required to have connecting flights)
  • “meet and greet” designated areas
  • prearranged transportation logistics
  • distance the airport is from the major downtown hotels
  • cost of travel to the major downtown hotels

Final Thoughts

Event planners know airports like the back of their hands. After all coming into, and leaving from, airports is a common component of most meetings and events. Vancouver, Canada has been awarded the number one Airport in North America. Are you wondering how the airports that you use faired? Click here to see Skytrax’s 2013 Top 100 airports in the world. It may just have an impact of where you host your next meeting.

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