New opportunities at Iceland's Keflavik Airport
Keflavik Airport retail and F&B area:
NEW OPPORTUNITIES AT ICELAND’S KEFLAVIK AIRPORT
In March, Isavia, the operator of Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s largest airport, will seek to pre-qualify interested parties for the operation of speciality retail and food & beverage outlets in Keflavik International Air Terminal, Reykjavik.
Keflavik International Airport in Iceland handles all of Reykjavik’s international traffic. Pre-qualification will be held for the operation of speciality retail and food & beverage outlets in the airport terminal’s departures hall. Iceland has the advantage of being one of the few countries in Western Europe that is able to sell all goods and services at duty-free prices to all departing passengers.
Concession contracts will expire at the end of 2014. Isavia’s Board of Directors has decided to open up the market and give all interested parties a chance to bid for space in the air terminal. At the same time, Isavia will take the opportunity to redevelop the departure hall and reassess the mix of services.
New opportunities in response to the changing passenger profile
The profile of Keflavík Airport customers is changing. Icelandic travellers have historically been the main customers but with fast increasing number of tourists to Iceland, foreign travellers are now becoming the main customer group. Foreign travellers represented 66% of total passengers in 2013, growing to around 75% in 2020 according to projections. This will have an effect on the future arrangement of the duty free facilities, selection of operators and product categories.
Huge increase in passenger numbers at Keflavik Airport
In addition to the changing passenger mix, the increase in passenger numbers has been huge at the airport. Some 2.8 million passengers passed through the airport in 2013, an increase of 15.6% on the previous year. Of this number, departing and arriving passengers accounted for nearly 2.3 million, an increase of 17% from 2012. It is estimated that the total number of passengers through Keflavík Airport will reach 5.1 million by 2020.
Chosen partners
The consulting company Concession Planning International Ltd will provide commercial consulting services. CPI is one of the world‘s leading commercial planning consulting firms specialising in airports, rail and other high traffic locations. Since its formation in 1997, CPI has been involved in commercial planning projects in small, medium and large airports around the world.
Design consultancy, Portland has been chosen to assist with the design concept and retail vision for the departure hall. Portland is an award-winning design consultancy specialising in the retail leisure and travel sectors. The company has over 20 years of experience working in the airport sector for airport owners/managers, duty free operators, travel retailers and brands.
The pre-qualificiation process will start in March and it is estimated that the redevelopment of the departure hall will be ready before the summer traffic in 2015.