US. HMSHost Corporation, part of Autogrill Group, has named Suredj S. Autar as Managing Director of HMSHost Asia. Autar spent the past five years as Director of Consumer Products and Concessions at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, leading the retail, advertising, parking and general concessions business units.
HMSHost said: “Autar will develop and execute strategies to promote growth in the airport concession business for HMSHost and Autogrill in the rapidly growing Asian region. Long-term traffic forecasts estimate that by 2025 Asia Pacific airline traffic will increase to 33% of worldwide traffic from its current 24% share.
“Asia Pacific traffic is growing rapidly and we are confident that Mr Autar’s extensive experience in Amsterdam Schiphol, a recognised leader for innovative commercial management, will aid him in serving the needs of this market,” said HMSHost President and CEO Elie Maalouf. “Evaluating expansion opportunities, building new airport partners and leveraging our global group capabilities will be our first priority.”
A new HMSHost Asia office will open in Singapore to help drive growth in the region. It will be operational in the spring of 2007.
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