 |
CHINA. Aer Rianta International has opened its first stores in China. The 11 stores at Kunming’s Changshui International Airport cover 650sq m of airside retail space and are operated under the same “˜The Loop’ brand the retailer deploys at Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports.
The airport, which features the fourth largest terminal building in China, also opened to passenger traffic for the first time today following the transfer of operations from the city’s Wujiaba Airport. The new terminal covers nearly 550,000sq m and the airport is expected to process about 24 million passengers this year, rising to 38 million passengers by 2020.
The shops offer a wide range of duty paid products in the perfume and cosmetics, fashion accessories, jewellery, confectionery and souvenirs categories. New features for the travel retail sector in China include a stand-alone shop within a shop for the Origins skin care brand.
ARI Chief Executive Officer Jack MacGowan said: “This is a key strategic development for ARI and [parent company] DAA. We were involved in some consultancy contracts in China during the 1990s but we are now on the ground, for the first time, as retail operators in one of the world’s most dynamic economies and aviation sectors.
“These shops, which have been designed and fitted-out to an excellent standard by ARI’s own specialist teams, also represent an important Irish trading presence in the fast-growing region of South West China. We are confident we can build from this operational base to secure additional contracts in this region and throughout China and a dedicated business development team is currently pursuing opportunities.”
ARI General Manager Kunming Alan Magan said: “We are really excited about bringing ARI’s long tradition of retail excellence directly to passengers in China. Perfumes and cosmetics will be our largest product category, followed by handbags and sunglasses, which are also very popular with consumers in China.
“The majority of passengers initially will be business travellers en route to other cities in China, but there is a growing volume of leisure traffic, and golf is developing rapidly as a driver of air travel in this region.”
 |
 |
 |
ARI employs a local team of 90 people at The Loop in Kunming |
ARI secured the Kunming retail contract in 2011 after DAA signed a strategic collaboration agreement with airport authority Yunnan Airports Group in 2010.
 |
 |
 |
