TURKEY. Unifree, the Gebr Heinemann-controlled Turkish company, has won the tender to operate duty free and other retail businesses at Antalya Airport’s new terminal two.
It is an important gain for the retailer. Antalya is a key Turkish tourism location and the airport is described as the “˜gateway to the Turkish Riviera’.
Antalya Airport Passenger Departures 1999 – 2003
Source: Antalya Airport International Terminal |
T2 opens for business in July 2005 and will attract around half of the traffic currently handled by the solitary terminal plus significant projected passenger growth in the future. Antalya Airport recorded 9.7 million passengers in 2003. The mix was dominated by Germans (43%), other western Europeans (25%) and Russians (17%). The Nuance Group runs the T1 duty free operation.
Gebr Heinemann Director Claus Heinemann told The Moodie Report. “Antalya is a great place for tourism and development in Turkey. We believe that if we have peace and an end to terrorism then Turkey has one of the greatest potentials of any country for tourism. Also, it’s a non-EU market [adding considerably to its duty free value – Ed].
Unifree also operates the duty free operation at Istanbul Ataturk International airport in partnership with airport authority Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV), trading as RTU.
Antalya Airport Passenger Profile by Nationality 2003
Source: Antalya Airport International Terminal |
Optimism in Iran
Meanwhile Heinemann said cautiously that he was “more hopeful” that the RTU partnership could finally open its duty free shops for business at Tehran’s new Imam Khomeini International Airport in Iran.
The new airport was closed the day it opened in early May after local resistance to foreign (i.e. TAV) management of the airport. RTU has the contract to run the duty free shops but has been forced to keep stock in Customs until the Turkish and Iranian authorities resolved the dispute.
However, earlier this month Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the airport would become operational in “early to mid-August.”
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