Denver Airport opens innovative Final Approach commercial facility

The new Final Approach facility offer four F&B concepts

USA. Denver International Airport opened a new cell phone lot and food court facility named Final Approach on Monday, aimed at meeters and greeters as well as arriving passengers.

A cellphone lot is a parking area, typically located at airports, where people can wait before picking up passengers. They can help reduce congestion at arrivals sections.

The Final Approach facility offers:

• Four new dining choices: Dunkin’ Donuts (24 hour drive through), zpizza; Subway; and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill
• 253 cell phone waiting parking spaces (+132% more parking than previous cell phone waiting lot)
• Free Wi-Fi service in the building and parking lot
• A children’s seating area with iPads built into tabletops with access to games
• Lounge seating
• Indoor restrooms
• Eight flight information display boards
• Convenient access to the adjacent Conoco fuel station and convenience store and Wendy’s restaurant

The unit targets people meeting incoming passengers, with services such as mobile phone charging, a children’s zone plus restaurants on-site

“Our customers asked for enhanced service and today we are delivering,” said Denver Airport Manager of Aviation Kim Day. “Final Approach offers food, fuel, relaxation and flight information to the thousands of people who pick up arriving passengers here every day. This is just one of the innovative projects that is improving the experience for our passengers and maintaining our reputation as one of the world’s best airports.”

The Final Approach building is the result of repurposing a former automotive service station on the site with three bays at a cost of US$7 million, funded by Pacific Convenience & Fuels. The facility is expected to generate more than US$421,000 in revenue to the airport in its first year and will create about 120 jobs.

The Moodie Report was on site visiting the facility pre-opening, and met with airport commercial managers John Ackerman and Neil Maxfield who were involved in the negotiation and implementation of the concept. Ackerman and Maxfield hailed Pacific Convenience & Fuels for creating this facility as a complement to its existing fuel station, convenience store and Wendy’s facilities.

The facility houses one of the first Dunkin Donuts to open in Colorado. There is also the first Subway to open on airport property in Denver. In addition, zpizza is an organic concept that uses organic ingredients.

Final Approach features one of the few Dunkin’ Donuts in Colorado

“Guests and travellers visiting the new food court and cell phone waiting lot will be greeted by a wide variety of high-quality food and exceptional service,” said John Sweeney, General Manager of restaurant operations for Buon Hospitality, a division of Pacific Convenience & Fuels. “We are extremely proud of the part we have been able to play in adding this amenity to visits to DIA. These convenient and unique services will help to set expectations for other airports around the world.”

The food court will be open from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm daily. The airport company and concession partner both noted that airport staff may choose this dining option on the way home and also that arriving passengers may choose to buy meals here.

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