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CROATIA. The Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire (SDA) joint venture between Aelia and Aéroports de Paris has begun travel retail operations at Zagreb Airport under a 15-year contract. This is SDA’s first project outside France. It follows the acquisition of Zagreb Airport retailer MZLZ Retail by the partnership, announcing in July. An alliance led by Aéroports de Paris last year concluded a deal to take over the operation and development of Zagreb Airport.
The takeover will be a two-stage project. The first involves a full refit of the existing shop and the second will be the opening of further duty free shops in the new terminal.
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Initially (from 1 December) the new company has taken over two shops – a main shop dedicated to duty free (600sq m), and a landside souvenir shop (47sq m). The range of products spans all categories, from beauty to alcohol, confectionery and tobacco, as well as fashion & accessories. SDA said it would also strengthen the local product offering, for which there is a strong demand, and said it would “pay particular attention to delivering optimum customer service”.
By the end of 2016 a new terminal will open, handling 5 million passengers (compared to 2 million today). In a statement, the partners said that “for Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire it is an excellent opportunity to develop activities outside Paris and to demonstrate its expertise in travel retail. The aim is to provide Zagreb with an exceptional shopping experience based on European quality standards”.
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SDA CEO Guy Bodescot said: “The Zagreb project shows that we do not need to create a new venture every time we want to work together. And this will facilitate future development.”
Although the retail operation is owned by the joint venture, Bodescot indicated that the stores would be branded Aelia Duty Free.
“It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to partner up with one of the best companies in the world when it comes to travel retail,” said Zeljka Ficko, Managing Director for retail activities at Zagreb Airport. “It gives you strength to cope with the challenge of providing the best, ultimate travel retail service to your customers and Zagreb as the biggest international airport in Croatia has the obligation to do so for its domestic and foreign passengers.”
