AMERICAS LEADING OPERATORS: DFA
“Motta is a great competitor. I respect them. I have no problem sharing the same airport especially as we already do so in Colombia and El Salvador. It does not bother me.”
Leon Falic, President DFA
Tocumen airport handled 15.6m passengers, according to the Panama Logistics Innovation and Research Center. This equates to an increase of +5.93% or 874,128 passengers compared to 2016. Throw into the mix the launch of the country’s first connecting flights between Beijing and Panama City (via Houston) courtesy of Air China scheduled for this month, the potential of Panama Tocumen is there for all to see. Falic says: “Panama is handling over 15m passengers which will soon rise to 20m. It will have flights coming from China and already covers all Latin America, Europe and the US. It is one of the busiest airports in the region and we definitely know the customer.” Reflecting on the Panama
Tocumen tender process, which attracted a strong field including Dufry Group, DFASS and Gebr. Heinemann, Falic describes it as one of the best he has ever seen. “It was very clean and open and
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not one of those crazy processes where there was a lot of lobbying,” he recalls. “I have been in tender processes where we have offered more and not won for whatever reason, but like I said, this was one of the best I have ever seen.” He adds: “We ended up winning two of the three packages on offer situated at the best locations in the
have Brazil, which we are building on,” Falic explains. “We recently completed our stores there and they are starting to kick in. Brazil as an economy is also coming back.” Last December, economic activity
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expanded at a faster-than-expected rate, capping the first annual increase in four years following a debilitating period of recession. The Brazil Central Bank’s economic activity index rose by 1.4% from November on a seasonally adjusted basis, so the recovery was clearly gathering momentum form the back end of last year. ASUTIL President and Dufry
DFA stores have recently been upgraded at Washington Dulles International Airport.
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Brazil and Bolivia General Manager Gustavo Fagundes revealed positive signs as early as last June when speaking at the IAADFS Duty Free
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airport which was very good for us.” Operating alongside DFA
at Panama Tocumen, will be Panamanian retailer Motta Internacional, which secured the remaining 10-year contract. Attenza Duty Free (Motta Internacional), will run the other 700sq m area and pay a minimum monthly guarantee of $675,844. Falic comments: “Motta is a great
competitor. I respect them. I have no problem sharing the same airport especially as we already do so in Colombia and El Salvador. It does not bother me.”
Victory in El Salvador Speaking of El Salvador, where DFA secured the contract to operate duty free stores at Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport last year, Falic remarks: “I think it will be an interesting operation. It is in Central America and we know what we are doing here. We are very happy.” As far as 2018 is concerned, there is
plenty for DFA to look forward to. Not only is everything progressing well in Panama, but the same can be said in Brazil, where the retailer secured contracts in São Paulo Cogonhas, Porto Alegre, Manaus and Maceió airports in 2016. These preceded the opening of two duty free stores in Salvador at Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport in 2017. “In addition to Panama, we also
Show of the Americas in Orlando. Fagundes indicated Dufry Brazil was “getting back to growth” and that the company had even registered double-digit growth in certain locations. Economic activity in Brazil ultimately rose by 1% in 2017 compared to the year before, so Falic can expect the Brazilian recovery to ramp up a gear in 2018. Assuming this happens, a much- improved Brazilian economy could also spark a return to growth across the LATAM region as whole. This can only mean good news for DFA and other key Americas travel retail players. As such, the importance of Brazil must not be underestimated. Staying with the country, the
planned inbound duty free allowance increase [should it materialise] will also be a ‘huge help’ for DFA. Passengers can currently purchase duty free goods worth up to $500 on arrival at the country’s airports. This includes 24 units of alcohol, limited to 12 units per drink type, 20 packs of cigarettes made outside Brazil, 25 cigars and 250g of tobacco. Falic says: “Any increase in
allowance on arrivals is always going to help, but we don’t build our business based on whether laws change to our benefit. I can’t estimate how this allowance increase is actually going to help, but it certainly won’t hurt, that is for sure.” Outside Latin America, DFA is
seemingly always upgrading existing stores and working on new projects. Having recently opened a new Polo Ralph Lauren boutique at Miami International Airport it is now building a new store at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 7. The terminal is operated by British Airways (BA) and DFA has been present there for more than 40 years. Falic comments: “We have also just upgraded our stores in Washington Dulles and bought out rival Northern border operator Pac Can Duty Free [which was running the store in front of us] in Blaine California. “The plan is to knock everything
down and build a brand new mega duty free store to cement the fact we now really cover the whole northern border.” «
MARCH 2018
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