Dave Devana is president and CEO of the Nanaimo Airport Commission
NANAIMO – Nanaimo Airport’s #Reconnect with Canada Coast-to-Coast campaign has earned international industry recognition.
The summer campaign promoting travel between the east and west coasts of Canada was a finalist for an Airports Council International award for excellence in airport marketing, communications and customer experience.
Nanaimo Airport partnered with Halifax Stanfield International Airport to help reconnect travellers with family, friends and loved ones, and travel as restrictions were eased during 2022. The campaign included a contest offering a grand prize of a six-night trip to Vancouver Island.
“We wanted to symbolize all of Canada reconnecting post COVID-19, through travel” says Dave Devana, President and CEO of Nanaimo Airport Commission. “Halifax to Nanaimo is an easy one-stop flight connecting both coasts.
Nanaimo and Halifax were the smallest airports to make the finals for the North America award. They were up against much larger airports — eventual winner Vancouver and Sea-Tac (Seattle), and a Milwaukee and Denver combination – with much larger budgets.
“We’re thrilled to be nominated for the impact we made on Canadians from the Atlantic Ocean to the Salish Sea and then onto the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the Island,” Devana says. “We worked closely with Halifax Airport and our airline partners to continue to expand the travelling choices for the communities we serve.”
The campaign tied into the launch of a new direct flight from Halifax to Vancouver.
The random draw winner of the trip giveaway ended up being a nurse working on the COVID ward and used the prize for her honeymoon.
She and her husband were awarded round-trip flights from Halifax to Nanaimo, three nights courtesy of Long Beach Lodge, there nights courtesy of Parksville Beach Club, and use of a rental vehicle courtesy of National Car Rental in Nanaimo. They then returned from Tofino to the Nanaimo Airport by a chartered helicopter
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