MIDDLE EAST: ABU DHABI MIDFIELD TERMINAL UPDATE ARI and Lagardère look ahead to Abu Dhabi opening
With the new Abu Dhabi International Airport Midfield Terminal set to open towards the end of next year, Aer Rianta International Middle East and Lagardère Capital are keeping an eye on latest trends, as Andrew Pentol reports.
In the meantime, both retailers will be keeping on eye on passenger traffic whilst they wait to open their stores. They might have observed that
passenger numbers at Abu Dhabi Airport did in fact decrease to around 1.84m in April 2018, while pax in the first four months of 2018 dropped to 7.3m from 8.2m. While traffic may be lower than
both retailers expected, it makes the project no less exciting for ARI, who is looking forward to next year.
The duty free concessions in the new terminal will be operated by Aer Rianta International Middle East and Lagardère Capital.
B
ack in 2015, Ireland’s Aer Rianta International (ARI) and French-Emirati joint-venture
company, Lagardère Capital won the 10-year DF&TR concessions at the Abu Dhabi International Midfield Terminal. The new $2.94bn terminal was
due to open in 2017, but was pushed back until 2019 due to complications which arose when building the roof. Once the 742,000sq m terminal
facility is complete, the capacity of the airport will increase to 45m. Aer Rianta International Middle
East (ARIME) which will design and operate the perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, skincare and sunglasses concession is itching to get started in the terminal, which will complement its existing Middle Eastern operations in Bahrain and Muscat.
“For us, we are hugely excited about the project. It is in our heartland of the Middle East and it is very important for us to be associated with a such a prestigious project.”
Anthony Kenny, Acting CEO, ARI
88 TRBUSINESS
A real showcase for retail Anthony Kenny, Acting ARI CEO says: “For us, we are hugely excited about the project. It is in our heartland of the Middle East and it is very important for us to be associated with a such a prestigious project. “We are really confident we are
going to deliver a fantastic offer which will showcase the company at its best. “We believe it is going to be
opening in Q4 2019 and are full steam ahead in terms of building our operational readiness.” Despite the delayed opening and
potential traffic dip, ARI is sticking to its original plan at present, as Kenny explains. “We have the plan chartered out
and an experienced team who have successfully delivered our vision in numerous locations. “We are very excited about
delivering real innovation and an exceptional customer experience.” Regardless of whether a shop
is pending or operating, ARIME is perfectly equipped to deviate from a plan and make changes in response to new trends if necessary. “We keep abreast of what is happening with the customer profile and passenger, consistently. “Abu Dhabi is no different, albeit
we are not operating there yet. We always reorientate our assortment and brands to match the passenger
mix and change in trend. “We are keeping an eye in regard to how that passenger mix is changing and what the changing trends and tastes are and will tweak our assortment and offering to match that.” When the terminal opens, the
ARIME offer will be matched by customer service and spend. He also suggests the retailer
will draw in trends across its other operations in the region. He says: “We obviously have a
number of operations in the Middle East that greatly facilitate and help us to understand what happens with profiles and particularly Middle East ones. “Nothing will surprise us when
we open with regard to the mix and profile. We have a team in Bahrain and our implementation team move from one to another.” Meanwhile, Lagardère, which
will run the liquor and tobacco, confectionery and fine foods concession, says there is a real ‘political ambition’ to open the terminal at the end of 2019. “I cannot guarantee it will open in
December, but I don’t think it will be delayed more than a quarter or two from then,” Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman and CEO Dag Rasmussen tells TRBusiness. “I’ve seen the site and walked the new terminal. They are working
hard and want to deliver it and will do just that.” Regarding any tweaks from
the original proposal, Rasmussen comments: “What they asked us and we proposed was fairly clear so there hasn’t been any major change. “We’ll probably have to do some
work because of the reduced traffic at the start [of the operation – ed], but not fundamentally.” TRBusiness
reached out to Abu
Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) for a progress report on the new terminal, but had yet to receive a response at press time. «
OCTOBER 2018
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