GERMANY. Munich Airport and its retail subsidiary Eurotrade yesterday opened the 35sq m Cosmetic Institute – a new treatment and wellness centre – linked to the main duty free and Travel Value shop in Terminal 2. The terminal is used exclusively by Lufthansa and its alliance partners.
The new lounge – developed in partnership with Gebr Heinemann, which supplies Eurotrade – is being hosted in association with four key brands: Sisley, La Prairie, Lancôme and Clarins. Yesterday’s event brought together senior airport and travel retail executives, key suppliers and local Bavarian media. The Moodie Report represented the travel retail media.
 |  |
 |  |
New dimension: (Top row) Munich Airport’s new Cosmetic Institute, developed in collaboration with Gebr Heinemann, which opened on Wednesday; (Bottom left) Munich Airport Deputy Chairman and CFO Walter Vill quotes from novelist Douglas Adams; (Bottom right) Eurotrade Managing Director Hellmut Gebhardt: “The Institute is the first of its kind at any airport, combining treatments with the offer of four brands, all linked to the duty free assortment.” | |
Speaking at the event, Munich Airport Deputy Chairman and Chief Financial Officer Walter Vill noted that the airport had been voted as Europe’s best by the Skytrax survey for the past four years. He said: “With the Cosmetic Institute, we have once again underscored our credentials as a hotbed of innovation. Only by continually optimising our range of services and responding to our customers’ wishes with appealing and convincing offerings will we maintain our status in the future as a trailblazer and the best-loved spot in the European airport landscape.”
In an entertaining address Vill took an extract from Douglas Adams’ 1988 novel “˜The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul’. Quoting, he said: “It can’t be any coincidence that no language in the world is there the phrase “˜as beautiful as an airport’. Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly.” Vill added: “Back in 1988 passengers had very little opportunity to experience the finer things in life, because the finer things in life were not available at the airport. If the author had experienced Munich Airport today, I’m sure that literature would be the poorer for these wonderful quotations.
“With around 200 shops and food & beverage outlets and its great service, Munich Airport offers passengers much more than just flight connections. The breadth of our Non-Aviation offer is now at the standard of the city centre. We can now say that Munich has developed from a City Airport into an Airport City.”
 |  |
 |  |
(Top left) The Moodie Report Deputy Publisher Dermot Davitt with Munich Airport Deputy Chairman Walter Vill (second from left), Eurotrade Managing Director Hellmut Gebhardt (right) and Duty Free & Travel Value Shop Operations Manager Petra Reifenrath-Afdhal; (Top right) Hellmut Gebhardt enjoys a facial; (Below left) Lancôme’s makeup artist adds theatre to the launch – and the duty free store; (Right) The Cosmetic Institute is neatly integrated into the main duty free outlet | |
Eurotrade Managing Director Hellmut Gebhardt said: “Munich Airport’s mission is to become the most attractive airport in Europe by all measures by 2010, and it’s our goal to help achieve that. With the Cosmetic Institute we want to spoil passengers in a luxury environment. We all know that flying isn’t always healthy. We want to help travellers prepare their skin for a long flight, or to recover after one. The Institute is the first of its kind at any airport, combining treatments with the offer of four brands, all linked to the duty free assortment.”
The Institute, which lies in the non-Schengen area on Level 5 of T2, is open daily from 07.00 to 22.00.
Services include cosmetic face and body treatments, manicures and a wide range of wellness options for full body care. Appointments can be arranged in advance.
 |  |
 |  |
The Cosmetic Institute offers a range of treatments from cosmetic face and body treatments to manicures – and fills a much needed gap in the market, says Munich Airport’s commercial management | |
Speaking to The Moodie Report after the launch, Hellmut Gebhardt said: “It’s a real USP for Munich Airport to have this outlet. It’s part of our goal to offer high-class brands that are targeted specifically at the key passenger groups through each section of our airport. We are adding more exclusive products for passengers that demand them, such as the increasing numbers of Russians and Asians travelling. By doing that successfully we have raised average transaction values and spends well above the rate of passenger growth over the past five years.” Gebhardt reported that he expected Eurotrade to make sales of €180 million in 2008.
Munich Airport Vice President Center Management Inge Vogt added: “We are looking to implement new specialist concepts where we see a need right across the airport. Wellness is one of those areas where we see potential and where we had a gap in the market. Last year we opened the new Bistro Organic and now the Cosmetic Institute fits our strategy for new innovations and improving the range and diversity of the offer. By early next year we plan to open a spa area, which will further add to that offer.”
We’ll bring you an in-depth report on commercial activities, consumer services and travel retailing at Munich Airport soon.
[comments]
Your post will appear – once approved – in
The Moodie Forum on our home page
MORE STORIES ON MUNICH AIRPORT
Munich Airport posts solid H1 passenger growth – 16/07/08
Rock and hip-hop set to touch down at Munich Airport’s “˜openairport’ music festival – 07/07/08
