Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2024

Left: For 20 years, the AX Awards have recognized the best in airport concessions.

Left: Melissa K. Montes of Airport Experience News led the celebration of the industry’s top performers. Above: David Bisset of Paradies Lagardère and Melissa K. Montes of Airport Experience News, offer a toast to kick off the 2024 AX Awards Gala. Gala wine was sponsored by Vino Volo/ Paradies Lagardère.

A CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE AX Awards Gala Spotlights The Best In Airport Concessions

BY CAROL WARD

A vibrant and celebratory 2024 AX Awards Gala capped four days of programming at the 2024 Airport Experience Conference. The AX Awards highlight the best in airport concessions, recognizing airport executives, operators and brands and concepts that help create a truly memorable experience for travelers. This year – AXC’s 20 th Anniversary – the Gala included a special tribute to Pauline Armbrust, who founded Airport Revenue News and the Airport Revenue Conference, which today are known under the Airport Experience name. AXN Publisher Melissa K. Montes acknowledged the extraordinary impact Armbrust’s work had – and continues to have – on the airport concessions industry. She also put the spotlight

on those individuals in the audience – more than a few – who had attended all 20 conferences! The Gala is all about celebrating the best in airport concessions, and Montes noted the high caliber of nominations, finalists and winners this year. She also informed the audience about to process for these highly coveted awards. Continuing from the 2023 AX Awards program, this year the AX team brought clarity and transparency to the awards process. In Autumn 2023, the AX team opened a nomination process whereby subscribers could nominate industry partners, colleagues or themselves for any awards. When the nomination window closed two months later, the AX team selected up to six finalists in each category.

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AX NEWS APRIL/MAY 2024