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“It’s about Sense of Place”¦ Melbournians are incredibly proud of Melbourne as a city. We want our customers to experience that pride in Melbourne Airport as well – it is their gateway to the world“ |
Andrew Gardiner Executive – Customer Melbourne Airport |
AUSTRALIA. Consumer choice is the theme as Melbourne Airport begins opening its long-awaited domestic Terminal 4 on a phased basis from this month. As reported earlier today, the brand new facility features 34 new stores and food & drinks outlets over some 3,100sq m of commercial space.
Previewing the opening in an exclusive interview with The Moodie Report, Melbourne Airport Executive – Customer Andrew Gardiner said: “It’s a really exciting time for us as an airport, going from three relatively old terminals to one that is brand spanking new. We hope our customers are going to enjoy it as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.
“It’s all about presenting our customers an experience which is a really good one. On the day when we open I think we will be the best domestic terminal in the country.”
With all the commercial openings set to be rolled out over the next two to three months, Gardiner says the mood of expectation in the airport camp is high.
“About a year ago, knowing that T4 would be opening around this time, we did 23,000 interviews with our customers and asked them what they would like to see at the airport. It’s a little bit like painting by numbers – once the customers told us what they wanted, then we went to the market looking to fulfil those expectations.”
The results will transform perceptions of Melbourne Airport, Gardiner predicts. “We have some really exciting news with regard to the retail line-up,” he enthuses. “From a fashion perspective, for example, Melbourne is regarded as the fashion hub of Australia but the airport hasn’t really mirrored that. This is the start of a real transformation at Melbourne Airport over the next two to three years designed to give our customers a much better experience.”
In a major coup, and a first for Australia, the airport has brought on board the whole Country Road group, the Australian fashion powerhouse that offers men’s, women’s and kid’s fashion. “Our research showed that Country Road was one of the major brands that our customers wanted to see,” says Gardiner.
The offer includes the first full-line (men’s, women’s and kid’s) Country Road airport store in Australia. Moving slightly upmarket, the first Trenery (also part of Country Road) airport store will be opened; as well as Witchery and Mimco from the same group. Other top names include Victoria’s Secret, AMUSE Beauty Studio and Rip Curl. For traveller needs Amcal Pharmacy, Go! Convenience and Quickfix will provide convenient options.
A personal highlight for Gardiner, in that he spent much time developing it, is the opening of one of just two Australian airport stand-alone stores for acclaimed Spanish fashion house Desigual (click here for a recent article on the company).
“For our lady customers that’s just such a win,” he says. “We’re very pleased to announce Desigual coming to the airport”¦ it’s magnificent merchandise, very colourful and very bright, appealing to our female customers. We’re looking forward to the brand showing its best here in Melbourne.”
A FEAST OF FOOD & DRINKS OPPORTUNITIES
Gardiner also promises “a really great variety of food & beverage offers” for airport customers. There are “old favourites” such as Oporto and McDonald’s, which rated high on the wish-lists of the consumers surveyed, plus some top local names such as Brasserie Bread.
“An incredibly exciting entrant to the market” is how Gardiner describes Melbourne coffee and patisserie brand Brunetti.
“Melbourne is very highly regarded for its coffee culture and Brunetti is a really class act when it comes to fresh patisseries, with European style sweets and desserts.”
Behind that story lies another even better one. Brunetti founder Giorgio Angelé first came to Melbourne for the 1956 Olympic Games with the Italian team, not as an athlete but as a pastry chef. Loving the city and the Australian way of life, he eventually emigrated there, taking his culinary craft to a whole new level. In 1991 he acquired the Brunetti café business and transformed it into an authentic Roman Pasticceria and an icon of Melbourne’s culinary scene.
“It’s such a great story. When you come here you will fall in love with it as I did,” Gardiner promises The Moodie Report. “It’s been modelled on their downtown outlet in Carlton and it’s just magnificent. The Angelé family are just so passionate about their wares. It’s real heritage which they’re very proud of. It’s just really cool.”
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The taste of things to come: “When you come here you will fall in love with Brunetti as I did,” Andrew Gardiner promises. “It’s just magnificent. | |
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The coffee offer is further enhanced by Quikshots, “another great coffee vendor”, and there’s plenty more to the food & drinks line-up with Ali Baba, Salsa’s, Boost Juice, Krispy Kreme, Muffin Break, Think Asia, Sushi, Chop Salads and Sixpence Pies. Other prominent commercial partners include Eye Love Melbourne (LS travel retail), Icons, tech2go, Velocity and WHSmith.
Every good Aussie airport needs a pub and Gardiner thinks T4 has an outstanding example with Two Johns Taphouse, apparently named after two gentlemen called John who one version of a much-debated history claims were the founders of Melbourne. “Again it’s all about heritage and being Melbournian and so the whole fit-out is all around the history of Melbourne,” says Gardiner.
“It’s about Sense of Place”¦ Melbournians are incredibly proud of Melbourne as a city. We’ve got a lot to be proud of – it’s a great place to live. We want our customers to experience that pride in Melbourne Airport as well – it is their gateway to the world and it’s important that the experience that they have here is a really good one.”
TIME TO ‘EAT, DRINK, SHOP & SURF’
T4 will be a ‘call to gate’ environment with the aim to keep passengers in a centralised commercial and relaxation zone as long as possible. Around 1,200 seats of different shapes and sizes are available, allowing customers to relax in a central area ringed by the commercial offer. Big screen television will entertain travellers; “massive” FID screens assure them; shops and food & drinks outlets entice them.
Modern-day essentials have not been forgotten. Wi-Fi has been upgraded significantly to be both free and fast, allowing passengers to “eat, drink, shop & surf” – a splendid catchphrase that one can see other airports quickly adopting in a connected age.
The T4 development is an ambitious project that has effectively doubled the number of commercial outlets serving Melbourne’s domestic passenger base. “We had 5,800sq m of retail space before so it [the additional 3,100sq m] is a significant increase in our reach,” says Gardiner. “It’s a very large project which we’ve been working on for over a year.
“It’s a brand new terminal built from nothing. It’s been amazing to see it coming out of the dirt over the past 18 months. It’s been a great investment for our shareholders and a really positive thing for Melbourne as a city.”
In retail though the job is never done. Exciting developments in the international terminal await as they do at the Qantas-run terminal, which in future will return to Melbourne Airport control. “It’s been 14 months since I came here [from Sydney Airport] and I have really, really loved working on this project and the ones that are coming,” Gardiner concludes. “The opportunities are immense.”
