Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) has been recognized by the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) with a first-place award for the best Overall Marketing Program in 2019 for small airports in North America. The council is a prominent airport industry advocacy and trade organization.

PTIA has some stiff competition for passengers from airports in Charlotte and Raleigh, but it does a good job playing up its strengths, and the new award recognizes PTIA for its 2019 “Fly Easy” campaign, which emphasizes the ease of using the local airport and avoiding the immense crowds, traffic jams and other hassles associated with other airports.

Something is working at the airport: PTIA has seen very impressive passenger growth in recent years, and in the newest statistics, released at a Tuesday, Nov. 19 meeting of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, the number of passengers is up 17 percent in 2019 compared to this same point in time in 2018.

Stephanie Freeman, the marketing and customer service manager for PTIA, stated in the airport’s monthly newsletter that much of success of the Fly Easy campaign came by the airport partnering with local organizations, which have helped get the airport’s message out into the community.

“We want our passengers to know that we appreciate them and that we want their experience at our airport to be the very best,” she stated.

In that newsletter, PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker called the award a “prestigious” one from a high-profile organization and he added that the honor “acknowledges the creative energy and hard work that our marketing staff puts in every day,”

Baker also said he’s proud of the professionalism and effectiveness of the airport team behind the marketing campaign.

The ACI-NA awards are judged by a panel of experts from the aviation industry in the areas of public relations, marketing, advertising, journalism and design. The award recognizes excellence in airport marketing and promotions by effectively communicating a message that will produce growth at the airport.

The 2019 winners for Overall Marketing Program for large airports was Chicago O’Hare International Airport.