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Senior management from TAV Airports, ATÜ Duty Free, Gebr Heinemann and Riga Airport mark the official opening |
LATVIA. ATÜ Duty Free has officially opened the new-look commercial areas at Riga International Airport, where the company is master concessionaire. The company has invested €2 million in upgrading the business.
As reported, ATÜ has a ten-year contract from January 2011 covering duty free, speciality retail, food & beverage, currency exchange, car rental, business lounges, banking and other services. The company is a joint venture between TAV Airports Holding and Unifree, in which Gebr Heinemann is major shareholder and the principal supplier.
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ATÜ Duty Free was profiled in the October-November 2011 Print Edition of The Moodie Report |
Work on renovating the commercial areas began in early 2011. By the end of the year, 15 new-look stores had opened across 1,307sq m of space. Eight of these were managed by ATÜ Duty-Free and seven were sub-leased to other retailers. The stores include a Baltic-themed destination unit and a store catering specifically to Riga Airport employees and flight crew.
Latvian Minister of Transportation Aivis Ronis, TAV Airports CEO & President Sani Sener and ATÜ General Manager Ersan Arcan attended the opening ceremony in Riga.
Minister Ronis praised the project, emphasising the partnership between Riga Airport Authority and ATÜ. “The partnership realised here stands as an example of the strong partnership between Latvia and Turkey,” he said. “With the new commercial areas, Riga Airport strengthens its bid to become a regional hub.”
Sani Sener said: “With a serious leap forward as the entry gate to the Baltic region during recent years, Riga Airport has now become the centre of attraction in Northern Europe. We are pleased to take our partnership forward by undertaking the operation of the commercial areas at Riga where we already offer ground services through Havas Europe. Today, we have significant know-how in every area of the airport operation sector as a company operating at 12 airports in five countries. Now, we have brought this know-how to Riga and made a steady entry through the gates of the EU.”
“As ATÜ Duty-Free, we established a reference point in the Baltic region in terms of our sector by representing the experience we have gained in different countries,” added ATÜ General Manager Arcan.
“The Shopping Mall concept and dynamic service mentality that we brought to Riga are offered to our passengers as a privileged shopping experience. The revenue per passenger and the increase of total proceeds we have obtained in a short period of time reflect the success of our approach. We anticipate improving the commercial areas at Riga Airport further through the restructuring works and redefining the commercial concept.”
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ATÜ Duty Free is master commercial concessionaire at Riga and also operates the main travel retail contract |
