Turkish Airlines and Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot were among the big winners of an industry event that gathered aviation leaders in Salzburg, Austria.

In the 2016 edition of the Air Transport News Awards Ceremony, Turkish Airlines nabbed the title of Airline of the Year, while the Readers' Choice Award went to Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot.

For the awards, readers of Air Transport News were invited to vote for the finalists across 14 categories. Nominees were then vetted and examined by a panel of seven industry experts who determined the winner.

Airlines are assessed on service quality, innovation, new products, corporate responsibility and social contribution.

Though smaller in scale compared to other carriers when it comes to fleet, passenger capacity and revenue, Turkish Airlines holds bragging rights to flying to the most countries in the world: The carrier flies to 113 countries, and 284 destinations.

This year, the airline anticipates carrying 72 million passengers -- up 10 million from 2015. For comparison, in 2002, the airline carried just 10.3 million flyers.

By 2023, CEO Temel Kotil said the airline aims to double their capacity from 2015 to 120 million and increase their fleet to 450 aircraft.

The carrier is also known for striking lucrative sponsorship and celebrity endorsements.

Most recently, the carrier's sponsorship deal for the Warner Bros film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” meant scoring a star role in the movie with a pivotal scene set aboard a 777 Turkish Airlines plane.

The airline also tapped stars Ben Affleck (Batman) and Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor) to appear in ads promoting flight routes to “Gotham City” and “Metropolis.”

As part of the sponsorship deal, Turkish Airlines will become the first carrier to premiere the film at 35,000 feet. Limited-edition “Batman v Superman” amenity kits are also being distributed aboard 777 planes.

Here are some of the other big winners from the Air Transport News Awards which took place over the weekend:

Airline Alliance of the Year: SkyTeam

Airport of the Year under 10 Million Passengers: Bordeaux Airport

Airport of the Year 10-30 Million Passengers: Abu Dhabi International Airport

Airport of the Year: Istanbul Atatürk Airport

Regional Airline of the Year: Adria Airways

Low Cost Airline of the Year: easyJet

Airline of the Year: Turkish Airlines

Readers' Choice Award: Aeroflot

http://news.yahoo.com/aviation-industry-names-turkish-airlines-airline-111757114.html