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DFNI: Are you happy with the way things have progressed this year? John Sutcliffe: This has been our best year ever. It's just continuing. We've had growth every year since [...]

In last year's TFWA World Exhibition issue of DFNI, we spoke to Alpha Airports Group managing director David King about the company's turbulent recent past and its vision for the [...]

In most instances, describing Cyprus as a Middle Eastern country would suggest a misunderstanding of political geography. But when it came to allocating management responsibility for Aer Rianta International's (ARI) [...]

DFNI: Why did BAA feel the need to create the role of commercial director? Was it a direct consequence of the acquisition by Ferrovial? Garrood: Not especially, we were looking [...]

David King Former group commercial director, Alpha Airports Group After a harrowing run-in with stock market regulators earlier this year, Alpha Airports Group has bounced back with a vengeance. Former [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Scanning through the financial reports of the leading tobacco suppliers reveals the emergence of an interesting trend in the past two years. Companies such as Imperial Tobacco, Gallaher, [...]

For investment companies looking for something special to boost their portfolio, this year's hot product has everything: luxury appeal, close ties to the travel industry and undeniable value. Interested? Then [...]

Travel Retail Norway achieved a number of records last month when it unveiled its new departures store at Oslo International airport. The 1,640sq m (17,650 sq ft) duty-free shop is [...]

While the cigar industry is still best known for premium, hand-rolled products, the past few years have seen a surge of interest in smaller cigars. And although the trend may [...]

It is easy to be impressed by the grandeur of Israel's most expensive infrastructure project in its 56-year history. The design of the $1bn terminal three at Tel Aviv Ben [...]

Over the past 50 years Marlboro has become one of the world's most recognised brands, and recent changes in brand owner Philip Morris's duty-free strategy indicate that the company has [...]

Competition between airports on the west coast of North America has always been fierce. From southern California up to Canada, the major Pacific coastal airports at Los Angeles, San Francisco [...]

After the trials of the past few years, Zurich airport authority Unique must be delighted that its ambitious Airside Center project has been completed without a hitch. Gavin Lipsith speaks [...]

From next month, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport will boast a new international terminal that its designers claim will be one of the best in the world. Four years overdue, [...]

Twelve years have passed since Kyiv Duty Free, a subsidiary of Aer Rianta International, opened in Ukraine. The operator hopes its recent renovation will capitalise on the potential of a [...]

The premium cigars market has been reborn over the past 10 years. The US cigar boom of the mid 1990s introduced a fresh audience to the pleasures of smoking and [...]

Many companies reliant on EU travel-retail are only just recovering from the abolition of duty-free sales within the region in 1999. Yet this month 10 new states join the Union [...]

Despite rumours of international expansion, takeovers and new business ventures, Duty Free Americas owner The Falic Group has focused on improving its US business since acquiring the retailer almost three [...]

When Miami International airport announced its $4.8bn capital investment programme in 1995, the airport's international traffic was booming and duty-free revenues topped $65m. Almost 10 years later, the value of [...]

It might not have caused the same waves as Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence, but it seemed revolutionary at the time. The white paper signed by 12 rival [...]

In the plush surroundings of the company's Basel headquarters, Oettinger Davidoff president Dr Ernst Schneider extols the virtues of perseverance. 'In business, as in marriage, the first 50 years are [...]

DFNI: Imperial has often stated its international ambitions. But only a few years ago you concentrated heavily on the UK market. What has changed? Davis: If we go back to [...]

Moscow's Sheremetyevo International airport is a daunting location at which to arrive. As visitors struggle past grim-faced immigration officers, they are faced with baffling airport signs--large enough, but written in [...]

'For the first time since 1958, Brussels again has the most modern airport in Europe.' Thus enthuses Brussels International Airport Co (BIAC) ceo Pierre Klees over the airport's slick new [...]

Opinion on the role of cigars in travel-retail falls squarely into two camps--the believers and the non-believers. Some preach that by following the way of the holy trinity--product, presentation and [...]

There is something surreal about the approach to London Heathrow terminal five. Set against the rolling greenery beyond the airport complex, with the turrets of Windsor Castle rising on the [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] An airport commercial team staffed entirely by former retailers sounds like a concessionaire's dream come true, or perhaps its worst nightmare. But that is the prospect facing tenants [...]

Media frenzies don't get much more frenzied than the one that has engulfed UK airports group BAA since it was acquired by Grupo Ferrovial last June. Almost immediately the travel-retail [...]

Airport retail can be a minefield for fashion brands. Aside from the logistical and bureaucratic challenges associated with setting up travel-retail ventures, most luxury brands have invested a lot of [...]

For an industry that many observers believe is at the point of stagnation, inflight retail is recording impressive growth. Generation DataBank's latest figures, for the full year 2005, show an [...]

There is only one place you can buy truly tax-free tobacco in Canada. Unfortunately cigarette sales volumes cannot be quantified there, their health impact cannot be determined nor the loss [...]

While the industry eagerly awaits the release of Generation DataBank's analysis of the top travel-retail outlets in 2006, none will be keener than Tallink. The Estonian ferry operator has been [...]

It has been a tiring few months for industry lobbyists, but after two sudden breakthroughs earlier this month, an end is in sight in the quest for global consensus on [...]

Tourvest Duty Free CEO Ian Hay is upset with the retailer's performance over the past financial year. It is not that he believes the South African Airways (SAA) and Virgin [...]

Many airport operators could only dream of having such an opportunity. Fuelled by the aggressive expansion of its principal tenant, Dubai International airport is preparing to open a new terminal [...]

From the time that British traders first settled on the inhospitable rock now known as Hong Kong, the tiny island has been known as a transport hub and a gateway [...]

In a unique industry such as airport retail, there are few ready-made solutions. Airports and retailers seeking a better way of working together have experimented with various forms of cooperation, [...]

For a long time, the phrase 'Hong Kong International airport liquor and tobacco concessionaire' has provided a neat description of Sky Connection, one that endured even after the company gained [...]

The off-airport duty-free sector in Australia and New Zealand has always been a challenging business. Acting more as shop windows and order points than traditional retail outlets, downtown duty-free stores [...]

The age of 25 may be a distant memory for many readers, but the energy, optimism and creativity that are the hallmarks of youth are easy to recall. And at [...]

Two years ago The Nuance Group's future in Australasia did not look bright. The group's business in its biggest single market was plagued by several challenging contracts and the regional [...]

When Macau became China's second Special Administrative Region on December 20 1999, there must have been concerns about how the Chinese government would handle its new territory. But politicians opted [...]

If good fences make good neighbours, Malaysia and Singapore should be stealing each other's garden furniture. The countries share one of the most porous borders in the world, and their [...]

For passengers who have survived airport experiences in Delhi and Mumbai, arriving at Cochin is a blessed mercy. And few are more familiar with Indian airports than the 150 delegates [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Are cigars a tobacco product or a lifestyle product? The question dominates discussions on topics ranging from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) [...]

'What have the Romans ever done for us?' asks a Judean separatist in Monty Python's comedy The Life of Brian. You could forgive Europe's travel retailers for adopting a similar [...]

When Malaysia Airports revealed that it would be examining new retail models at Kuala Lumpur International airport (KLIA) as tenants' contracts expired this June, the news prompted speculation about what [...]

If India's roadmap for aviation development is to be trusted, anyone taking the journey should prepare for a long and bumpy ride. The Naresh Chandra committee report, completed last year, [...]

Zurich airport authority Unique has confronted the problem of declining passenger numbers to report retail revenue growth over the past two years. It is now poised for a boom as [...]

Harding Brothers director Harold Gittelmon believes that the age-old retail truism that 'people buy from people' applies more to cruises than to any other channel. An airport retailer may have [...]