On a hazy tropical evening in Singapore on 15 October, the global air cargo industry gathered at the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport for a spectacular gala dinner and awards ceremony honouring the best in the industry – not simply those who took home the top prizes, but each and every company nominated for their outstanding achievements.

Emirates Sky Cargo and AirBridgeCargo Airlines – the first, a repeat winner and the second, a firsttime participant – both took away top awards as Overall Carrier of the Year at the fourth annual Payload Asia Awards 2015. Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport likewise took home top honours in the Asia Pacific Airport of the Year category.

The Rising Star Carrier of the Year saw a clean sweep across both awards tracks – Industry and Customer Choice – by first-time Awards participant, Ethiopian Airlines who saw proud representatives make the journey to Singapore from Addis Ababa specially for the occasion.

The hard work, innovative strategies and countless successes of the air cargo community in the face of undeniably challenging market conditions were clearly celebrated during the evening’s revelry which saw guests travelling from across the Asia Pacific and Middle East region and from as far as Europe and Africa to attend the event.

Guest of honour for the evening was Glyn Hughes, global head of cargo for the International Air Transport Association.

Th e awards cover some 20 categories of the air cargo sector, as well as three special category Editor’s Choice awards, which together have set a new benchmark among the existing air cargo awards.

This years’ Payload Asia Awards continued the unique approach that was kicked off last year, with a second parallel set of awards, meaning for each category there are now two awards: Th e Customer Choice Awards and the Industry Choice Awards. “In this way we can highlight two equally important, but slightly diff erent views of excellence – one based on popular vote and the other based on a detailed assessment by senior industry executives drawn from across the industry,” said Payload Asia editor, Donald Urquhart.

Th e Customer Choice Awards carry on the previous year’s online voting system by customers and Payload Asia readers, with all results offi cially audited as testimony to their legitimacy. Th e Industry Choice Awards on the other hand, are determined by a senior level industry panel of 17 judges drawn from across the industry and assessed via a points system based on the published criteria with the process and results also audited.

Among the 25 awards given out was a special Editor’s Choice Award – the Lifetime Achievement Award – which honoured two individuals for their invaluable contribution to the air cargo sector over the years. Th is included the former head of marketing, freighters at Airbus, Didier Lenormand and the former senior vice president cargo, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Enno D. Osinga.

Other highlights saw All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Kerry Logistics both winning X-Factor Awards for their unique and highly successful business strategies.

And in fact, an unprecedented number of ‘clean sweeps’ were revealed at the Gala Dinner in both the Industry and Customer Choice categories. Th e others included: DHL Express Asia Pacific (Global Express Provider of the Year), China’s SF Express (Regional Express Provider of the Year), Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services (Hacis) Limited (Regional Logistics Provider of the Year) and Air Logistics Group (GSA/GSSA of the Year).

Other new entrants that took home awards included Philippine-based carrier Cebu Pacifi c (Low Cost Carrier of the Year), ASL Aviation Group (Leasing Provider of the Year) and Accenture Software (IT Provider of the Year).

And clearly demonstrating the growing awareness and popularity of the Payload Awards, the geographic coverage has expanded immensely with new entrants, Lufthansa Cargo, Virgin Atlantic Cargo and United Cargo all taking home awards.

Over 76 companies were nominated for the awards with over 18,000 online votes cast for 22 awards in the Customer Choice Awards. All results – both Customer Choice and Industry Choice – were audited by independent auditing firm HLB Atrede. The awards were attended by more than 250 members of the air cargo fraternity from around the globe.