SKYSERVICE 2017 FORUM
“This is all a whole new experience for Aeroflot and for all of the little airlines that are satellites of Aeroflot that ISG is also serving, so this is new territory.”
Karen Durban-Villeval, Director of Europe & Africa, Inflight Sales Group
far the best concessionaire’ in the airline’s last evaluation process.’ The inflight retailer is also
very happy with the ongoing arrangement, according to Karen Durban-Villeval, the Inflight Sales Group’s Director of Europe & Africa who also manages the Russian business. She said Aeroflot alone generated €2m ($2.1m) from its duty free programme in March, representing a 50% increase in sales turnover over the same month a year ago.
Increased spending levels At the same time, Aeroflot-owned sister carrier Rossiya (based at the airports of Moscow Vnukovo and Saint- Petersburg) generated a further €3m ($3m) last year, while Aurora – Aeroflot’s regional airline based in Vladivostock, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Khabarovk serving the Far East regions and Siberia – generated another €1m ($1m). Durban-Villeval said the latest sales
turnover and increased spending levels were obviously encouraging, coming off the back of the last couple of years’ sanctions and terrorism
incidents [in Egypt mainly], alongside a plummeting Russian currency. This toxic mix of negative influences has understandably seen Russians drastically reduce their foreign travel in several of these favoured destinations over the last few years, as they choose to get the best value they can from spending their roubles at home. But this is all changing now, with
a noticeable air of optimism amongst both airlines and suppliers at the event – a sentiment which has been growing strongly since the start of this year. While the duty free ground shop
business continues to recover fast, these retailers are also talking more positively as Russian travellers take to the skies again. Meanwhile, back at Aeroflot, this
much improved trading environment has also led to ISG agreeing a new contract with Aeromar for the Aeroflot duty free business, according to Durban-Villeval. This time around both parties have
also opted for a more performance- related contract formula – an idea some other airlines and onboard concessionaires might find more inspiring than some of the high risk- based contracts that exist on many other airlines. Durban-Villeval says this solid
platform of trust between Aeromar and ISG has made this possible, with the concession fees determined by the number of purchases that are actually made by the airline’s passengers.
“It is a new concept and I think it can be a long-term contract with them and it is very good. I think they are quite happy with what we have been doing in Russia. “It is getting more and more
complex to export goods to Russia because we do it from Paris, so I think that they know that the logistics expertise that we have developed is now something they need.”
Airport improvements While Aeroflot’s duty free programme is improving very fast, the same is true at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, according to Ahapen Hnkyanh, the First Deputy General Director, International Airport, Sheremetyevo. The old state-introduced travel
restrictions on Russian nationals are also loosening, as these travellers begin to fly overseas again in much greater numbers. For example, Hnkyanh told
the SKYSERVICE conference that passenger numbers at Moscow’s three main airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo all rose by 16.4% to just over 6m last March and February, according to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency. Sheremetyevo
handled
1.558m international passengers (+16.7%) in March and Vnukuvo processed 292,000 international passengers in February – the last month under review. By contrast, Domodedovo
handled just over 2m passengers last March, although it does not break down its domestic and international split. With this recovery in mind there
was naturally a good deal of interest from the SKYSERVICE 2017 Forum conference audience on how the potential introduction of duty free arrivals shops might impact on Russian inflight duty free sales, if this allowance arrives in the third quarter of this year, or by early 2018 as expected. [This follows last December’s new customs code which was signed by the Eurasian Economic Union-Ed]. The level of interest in this
Travel Retail Training Ltd founder Christine Martin (centre) with all the award winning teams and individuals from the 40-plus airlines attending the SKYSERVICE FORUM 2017 event.
26 TRBUSINESS
development from the conference audience was significant, with several delegates putting some other airline events to shame with several
JUNE 2017
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