Yang Yuanyuan, Director General of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), shared the Minister of the Year Award for 2004 by the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) with Singapore Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong on Monday.

The CAPA awarded Yang for "concluding a process of domestic airline consolidation in a commercial and orderly manner, achieving the successful IPO of national airline Air China, demonstrating strategic leadership in adjusting to a more liberal operating environment, and introducing new bilateral and multilateral liberalization initiatives".

Macau Airport won the Asia Pacific Airport of the Year award while the Airline of the Year award went to Qantas Airways of Australia.

Also presented were the Low Cost Airline of the Year, the Cargo Airline of the Year and the Airline Turnaround of the Year, which were won by the budget carrier AirAsia, Korean Air Cargo and SriLankan Airlines respectively.

Presented at a gala dinner in Singapore on Monday this year, the annual CAPA awards are for Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern personalities and organizations doing the most to influence business and regulatory strategy in ways which will have a lasting and irreversible impact on the evolution of the aviation and tourism industries.

The CAPA is organizing the Asia Pacific and Middle East Aviation and Tourism Outlook 2005 conference and the 2nd Annual Asia Pacific Low Cost Airline Symposium in Singapore this week.

More than 500 speakers and delegates from the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions as well as from the United States and Europe are in the city state participating in the events.