LATIN AMERICAN MARKET REPORT


“Other operations in South America also did well, such as Ecuador, Peru and Chile, while Argentina remained negative throughout the year, but showing improvements so far in 2017.”


Dufry


Dufry’s Gustavo Fagundes says the company is ‘getting back to growth’, double-digits in some locations as currencies have stabilised.


Chairman of the Board and CEO of Motta Internacional, SA agreed with Fagundes on reduced volatility in 2017. He said currencies such as


the Chilean Peso had seen vast improvement and that the price of fuel – along with the state of some governments – had also stabilised. Orillac also said that he foresaw ‘no major crises’ in 2017.


US President’s travel ban Speaking of potential ‘major crises’, interestingly the panellists said that they believe that any negative impacts of decisions made by the newly elected US President – such as the highly controversial travel ban – were temporary and that traffic was already rebounding. In fact Orillac pointed out that


the Trump administration was actually committed to improving transport infrastructure; particularly at airports. It was at this point that Fagundes


highlighted that the arrivals business at airports is key to Latin America, but customs regulations must be updated in order for businesses to really be able to leverage this opportunity properly. He also said that the duty paid market was going to become increasingly important (a point he made at last year’s ASUTIL conference in Chile). Apparently only Uruguay has been


able to up its ‘quota’ or allowance – amount each person can purchase and bring back across the border – in recent months. Uruguay has obviously benefited from this, but also from the


strengthening of Brazil’s economy as Neutral Duty Free CEO Enrique Urioste attested to recently. He says the business rebounded +62% in the first three months of 2017 year- on-year, as it battles back from the onerous macro-economic challenges in Brazil.


Currency stability Speaking at the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas’ education session ‘Border Duty Free – Crossing the Frontier’, Urioste told delegates that the fiscal effects of Brazil’s spiralling economic and political crisis stopped in HY2 of last year, as reforms, currency stability and a new presidency stimulated double-digit growth in September. “We were able to close the year


with +3% and this year started at full speed. We’re closing this quarter with +62%, so we are in the full path of recovery. “I believe 2017 will be a year when


LatAm airport news: Fraport wins Porto Alegre & Fortaleza/Vinci wins Salvador


As reported by TRBusiness, in March Fraport AG won a 30-year concession to operate Fortaleza Pinto Martins International Airport, plus a 25-year contract for Porto Alegre Salgado Filho International Airport in Brazil, where it will take over the management and operation of both facilities from Brazil’s state-owned Infraero. Responding to the tenders called by


ANAC (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil) Fraport won the single terminal Fortaleza Airport with the top bid of BR1,505.75m ($482.5m) and the dual passenger terminal Porto Alegre by bidding BR382.01m ($$122.4m) in a public auction. Commenting on its wins, Fraport


said: “Along with the concession price, Fraport will pay a fixed fee amounting to 5% of the airport’s annual revenue.


JUNE 2017


The concession will run for 30 years at Fortaleza and for 25 years at Porto Alegre.” As Brazil’s twelfth busiest airport,


Fortaleza’s Pinto Martins International Airport (FOR) is located in the federal state of Ceará in the north-eastern- most part of Brazil, having handled 5.7m passengers in 2016. By contrast, while Porto Alegre


Salgado Filho International Airport (POA) serves as the gateway to Brazil’s southern-most federal state of Rio Grande do Sul and handled 7.6m passengers last year as Brazil’s ninth- largest airport. Dufry operates duty free stores in


both departures and arrivals at Fortaleza, while Duty Free Americas operates the duty free contract at Porto Alegre. In addition to these wins, VINCI


Salgado Filho International Airport is the airport serving Porto Alegre, Brazil and in 2014 it served 8,447,307 (8.45m) passengers.


TRBUSINESS 35


Airports also reports that it was successful in its bid for a 30-year contract to operate Deputado Luis Eduardo Magalhaes Airport in the city of Salvador, which handled nearly 7.5m passengers last year as Brazil’s ninth-largest airport. Once again, Dufry operates both arrivals and departures duty free shops at Salvador Airport.


In late March, Erasmo Orillac of Motta Internacional said the Chilean Peso had seen 'vast improvement' since last year.


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