US. The 112 concessions at Denver International airport will get their leases extended without having to rebid, the City Council decided on Monday in an 8 to 4 vote. Operators such as The Nuance Group (duty free, news and gifts), WH Smith Travel Retail, The Grove, Benjamin Books, Peak Concepts and The Nature Company will all receive new contracts for three to six years (depending on the length of the existing term).
The vote was a victory for Denver retailers who had argued the extensions were needed because of financial hardships suffered after the airport’s delayed opening in 1995 and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
The outgoing Mayor Wellington Webb, who had made the extensions one of his priorities in his last month in office, welcomed the decision. “I believe in this country, you have to provide equal access to opportunity for people to make money or go broke,” said Webb speaking to local reporters.
The extensions will give concessionaires “an opportunity to pay off debts, make some money and decide if they want to stay,” the Mayor said.
Of his friends and business acquaintances who got contracts, the Mayor said: “You live in a place your whole life and there is very seldom anybody who does business that you don’t know.”
Denver’s major carriers such as Delta, Continental Airlines and the 19 other airline members of the Denver Airlines Airport Affairs Committee joined together to oppose the plan.
