HUNGARY. Budapest Airport commercial sales hit €190 million in 2018, a rise of 5.5% compared to 2017. This included a 22% leap in F&B sales. Traffic growth was 13.5%, with the figure reaching 14.9 million passengers.
The airport company revealed its commercial performance as it recognised business partners at its 12th Annual Awards. There, it saluted “those commercial partners who play an important role in making the airport a location to experience and not just travel through”.
Retailers of the year were named as Magyar Duty Free (Heinemann), SSP Hungary (Camden Food Co) and Memories of Hungary.
Memories of Hungary Managing Director Lajos Nagy said: “This accomplishment reflects the dedication we have to ensure all our customers receive a five-star experience in our store. We offer over 10,000 local products to ensure we cater for every potential customer – from the youngest to the oldest, our customers can find what they are looking for.
“Opening the largest speciality unit at Budapest brought with it huge responsibility to succeed and, with the support of the fantastic team at the airport, we’re proud to have recorded the largest increase in turnover last year.”
Magyar Duty Free Managing Director Ildikó Jankovich said: “This award is the ideal way to cement our 20-year partnership with Budapest Airport – the number one distributor of original, branded items in Heinemann’s entire European network. Since opening our first store at the airport in 1998 we’ve experienced more than 50% increase in sales, last year being no exception as we recorded further growth. Thank you to all at the airport who are part of this fantastic team.”
More than 300 guests from the airport’s carriers, concessionaires, operations and other enterprises attended the awards evening. Airport CEO Jost Lammers said: “To be able to say a personal thank you to all our partners, while also recognising outstanding contribution in delivering exceptional performance and results, is an honour and something we take great pride in doing. We couldn’t produce such robust growth and development without [this] cooperation in yet another record-breaking year.”
The airport also revealed plans for its next wave of commercial development. Premium coffee shop Café Frei opened in early 2019 and SSP is opening a Yum Cha unit in the SkyCourt mezzanine. Other stores and restaurants will be revamped in the first half, among them Heinemann’s multi-brand accessories store; Playersroom; Swarovski; Tommy Hilfiger/Hugo Boss; Caffé Ritazza; Upper Crust; Negroni and Seasons.
