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ICELAND. Isavia, which operates Keflavik International Airport, will pre-qualify interested parties for a series of speciality retail and food & beverage outlets at the airport, beginning in March.
Pre-qualification will be held then for the concessions in the airport terminal’s Departures hall. Iceland remains one of the few European states that still offers duty free to all passengers.
Current concession contracts will expire at the end of 2014. Isavia said that its Board of Directors has decided to “open up the market and give all interested parties a chance to bid for space in the air terminal.” Isavia will also redevelop the Departures hall and reassess the mix of services this year.
Leading consulting company Concession Planning International Ltd will provide commercial consulting services. Since its formation in 1997, CPI has been involved in commercial planning projects in small, medium and large airports around the world.
Design consultancy Portland has been chosen to assist with the design concept and retail vision for the Departures hall.
The pre-qualificiation process will start in March and it is estimated that the redevelopment of the Departures hall will be ready before the summer traffic peak in 2015.
Isavia noted: “The profile of Keflavík Airport customers is changing. Icelandic travellers have historically been the main customers but with fast increasing numbers of tourists to Iceland, foreign travellers are now becoming the main customer group. Foreign travellers represented 66% of total passengers in 2013, growing to around 75% in 2020 according to projections. This will have an effect on the future arrangement of the duty free facilities, selection of operators and product categories.”
Some 2.8 million passengers passed through the airport in 2013, an increase of +15.6% on the previous year. Of this number, departing and arriving passengers accounted for nearly 2.3 million, an increase of +17% from 2012. It is estimated that the total number of passengers through Keflavík Airport will reach 5.1 million by 2020.
Further information please contact:
Project Manager Hrönn Ingólfsdóttir at hronn.ingolfsdottir@isavia.is ; tel: +354 424 4109
