
FRANCE. Nice Côte d’Azur Airport has opened a series of pop-up food concepts airside and landside as it aims to build on its vision to deliver the “most surprising commercial experience” at a European airport.
Since April, five new pop-ups have been introduced in the public areas and post-security. In the T1 arrivals area Ramen Ta Faim, a Japanese ramen specialist that offers châshû ramen and takoyaki, has opened. The T1 Schengen boarding area now features a selection of fine beef charcuterie from Monaco-based deli, Beef Bar. And the T1 esplanade has welcomed food trucks from local businesses Monsieur Albert and Malongo Coffee.
The T2 departures area now features lobster roll specialist Lobsta and Belgian chocolatier Marcolini in the Schengen zone. The T2 Departures area has also introduced Fly Me to the Food. This innovative new omnichannel concept allows passengers to order on their mobile phones and offers ready-to-eat meals both on-site and in-flight.
“Five years ago, there wasn’t even one restaurant airside,” said Chief Commercial Officer Filip Soete, during Nice Côte d’Azur Airport’s annual lunch at TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore last month.
Soete said: “This new selection of pop-up stores embodies our openness to the world, with flavours coming from Japan, Belgium, the northern seas and Italy. It serves our ambition to give passengers the most remarkable commercial offer in a European airport.”
The addition of new restaurants as well as retail means that commercial turnover has climbed by 20% to 30% on average each year since 2015. The offer across T1 and T2 now includes 80 shops and restaurants: six duty free stores, 32 other retail outlets, 30 F&B units and 12 service concessions.

As reported, the refurbishment and expansion of T1 was completed in 2016, followed by T2 in 2018. The commercial space was increased by 162% to 3,076 sq m in T2, while other retail spaces were increased by 198% to 1,325 sqm. F&B space was increased by 260% to 1,281sq m, while lounge space was increased by 144% at 1415 sq m.
The commercial offer is built on several pillars: Sense of Place, differentiation across retail and dining and surprise and theatre in the environment.
Nice Côte d’Azur Airport is France’s second busiest airport, welcoming 13.8 million passengers in 2018. Soete said: “Nice Cote d’Azur is the second biggest airport in France after ADP (Paris). Lyon follows at third, but we have three million more passengers.”

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport’s commercial overhaul extends to the digital world as well. It is the first airport in France to offer Connect, a solution that helps passengers with flight connections across its network of 120 destinations. Nice Connect creates a seamless passenger journey through flexibility of flight schedules and stopovers. Nice Connect users also benefit from a 10% discount in partner shops.
The airport’s e-commerce drive has been improved by the newly launched E-concierge and a new partnership with French online booking platform, MisterFly. All of these digital efforts have spurred growth for online revenues, resulting in 126,000 orders (+15%), 55,000 customers (+10%) and a conversion rate of 19% compared to 2018.
According to Soete, Nice Côte d’Azur Airport will continue to surprise its passengers by constantly reinventing the commercial offer. Soete said, “In the end, we are a small airport. We only have 300 hectares, yet we rank as the 25th busiest airport in Europe. Every square metre is fighting for its place.”