Recipient not owner?

To whom it may concern at Air New Zealand marketing,
I've been flying a bit with you recently and I've noticed something odd in the 'welcome to the aircraft' speech (I'm sure it has another name).

The flight attendant says you (air nz) are the proud 'owners' of two airline of the year awards. Now I realise what you're trying to convey and I think the awards are well deserved, however I suggest that perhaps the term 'recipients' may be a more correct one, as every time I hear the phrase, I imagine a big auction room of airlines bidding for the awards which I'm sure is not the image you are wishing to convey.

Hopefully you can update the speech to more accurately convey the great service and pride you should have in being the recipients of two airline of the year awards.

Unless there was an auction room........

kind regards,
Manu Erwin

==UPDATED WITH RESPONSE==
Hi Manu,

Thanks for taking the time to email.

I have thought about this and I think that both are correct. You are certainly right that we would be most commonly referred to as the recipients of the award. However, the award itself is a non-returnable trophy so once received we do actually own it. More importantly we think that our staff actually own it because they were the people who worked so hard to win it on our behalf.

I hope that our usage makes sense in this context.

Kind regards
John

==FURTHER UPDATE==
I'm not saying that I was the reason for it, but since I sent this email I have no longer heard the 'welcome to the aircraft' greeting. Coincidence?