AUSTRALIA. JR/Duty Free is to exit its Perth Airport duty free contract by year-end, following an agreement with the airport company.
As reported, JR/Duty Free was awarded the concession in November 2012. It won a ten years and two months term from 1 November 2013. No reason for the premature departure was given by either retailer or airport, but it is likely to be linked to profitability pressures. The new concession began amid great fanfare and optimism but a combination of high concession fees and a struggling West Australian economy are likely to have made life difficult since.
JR/Group Director and CEO Milton Lasnitzki told The Moodie Davitt Report: “We have renegotiated our contract with Perth Airport Pty Ltd. As part of that, we will be exiting from Perth at a date yet to be decided but we expect it to be toward the end of this year. Due to confidentiality agreements, we are unable to give you any more information.”
A Perth Airport spokesperson told The Moodie Davitt Report: “JR Duty Free and Perth Airport have worked cooperatively in partnership over the past four years to deliver duty free services for international passengers travelling to and from Western Australia. Perth Airport and JR/Duty Free have mutually agreed to a restructure which will see duty free retail sites becoming available at Perth Airport.”
“Perth Airport sees continued strong growth in international passenger numbers over the next decade and has considerable interest in the new duty free concession.”
The airport company’s sign-off comment suggests a new tender will be called soon. Possible contenders include Dufry, LS Travel Retail, Aer Rianta International and Gebr Heinemann, all of which have existing concessions in Australasia.
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