SOUTHAMPTON International Airport has been named the 1999 KPMG Company of the Year following an outstanding 12 months.

It is the latest in a long line of achievements in recent years, including a RoSPA Gold Award for Occupational Safety, Investors in People, and a Good Neighbour Award.

Passenger numbers are up by almost 50 per cent since 1994 to 700,000 last year, it has achieved excellent growth and scored the highest marks for customer service of all BAA's seven airports last year. Revenue for 1998/99 was £12.3 million.

Managing director Colin Hobbs heads a team of 500 staff, which is fully committed to achieving Southampton's goal of being the most successful regional airport in Europe.

He said: "We are always keen to develop our business links in the local region, and have established a user group who are key business travel agents in the area to ascertain the needs of their customers and the services we provide. We've also developed a focus group made up of regular business travellers who discuss any aspects of the future of the airport and their needs as business travellers."

The airport has gone through a period of dramatic change since the mid 1990s, and now offers flights to 15 destinations across the UK, Channel Islands and Europe. In the next five years it aims to provide services to up to 10 European cities and up to 10 holiday flights per week.

Tony Cottam, senior partner at KPMG South Coast, said: "Southampton International Airport demonstrated all the key attributes of a winner.

"It puts high priority on meeting the needs of both passengers and business partners, it has a clear vision for the future and is in a strong position to continue making great strides towards its strategic goals. It is an extremely worthy winner of the KPMG Company of the Year."

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