AUSTRALIA. The Australian Airports Association (AAA) Retail & Commercial Forum (22-24 July in Melbourne) has attracted strong partnership backing in its third year, with 18 Support Panel sponsors named across the key channels of duty-free and specialty retail, food & beverage, ground transport and other services.
Organised by a partnership between the AAA, The Mercurius Group and The Moodie Davitt Report, the Forum brings together all the key players in the airport non-aeronautical revenue sector. These include airports from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, duty-free and speciality retailers, food & beverage operators, foreign exchange operators, advertising concessionaires, ground transport providers and various advisers and suppliers.
Since its inception in 2022, sponsorship for the Forum has been based on a unique-to-this-event shared model where all the main players contribute equally to the sponsorship and enjoy equal top billing.
In duty free, this brings together the top retailers including Avolta, Heinemann Australia, LagardèreAWPL and Lotte Duty Free, each of which supported the Forum and the Duty Free Industry Support Panel in previous years.
The top eight airport F&B concessionaires across Australia and New Zealand have joined the F&B Industry Support Panel of sponsors. These include Airport Retail Enterprises, Avolta, Cater Care, Delaware North, Emirates Leisure Retail Australia and SSP, who have all supported the Forum and the F&B Industry Support Panel from its inception.
This year, they are joined by Airport Retail Group Australia (AGRA), the growing Brisbane-based airport F&B operator, and LagardèreAWPL, which operates both standalone F&B outlets and hybrid F&B/speciality outlets (and is an established retail partner of the AAA event).
In travel essentials, the top two regional players LagardèreAWPL and WHSmith are joined this year by Avolta, which has signalled its intent to mirror the strength of its wider travel essentials business in the Australia and New Zealand markets.
The Ground Transport Panel of sponsors comprises a range of industry players including CAVU, Vroom and Ideas.
The Vendor Support Panel includes Manuka Health, Cox and Telsim.
More news will follow soon. The event takes place at the Pullman on the Park in Melbourne on 22-24 July. ✈
