UAE. Abu Dhabi Airports Acting Chief Commercial Officer Dan Cappell has left the company, effective 28 February.
The highly-respected Cappell has been the international face of Abu Dhabi Duty Free and Abu Dhabi Airports (formerly Abu Dhabi Airports Company/ADAC) for much of the past 18 years.
He was instrumental in outsourcing all previously in-house managed concessions when ADAC was established in 2006. He also led the commercial strategy and implementation for Abu Dhabi International Airport Terminal 3, which opened in 2009. T3 won wide acclaim at the time for setting a new regional benchmark in terms of retail execution and customer offer.
Cappell has led the commercial strategy for the grandly ambitious new Midfield Terminal Building (due to open in 2019) since day one. He was responsible for what was described by many industry observers as among the industry’s most innovative concession strategies when the programme was launched in 2014.
Cappell commented: “I have been privileged and honoured to work in various capacities within the commercial operations in Abu Dhabi. I have seen the most amazing evolution of the country, the aviation sector and the commercial business operations, with year-on-year records being broken for the past 16 years.
“I would like to thank the most amazing business partners, the executive of Abu Dhabi Airports and an amazing commercial team. I wish all involved every success, both with the fit-out and the subsequent ORAT (Operational Readiness, Activation and Transition) commences, as they head towards the opening of the Midfield Terminal.”
Given his impressive track record, it seems certain that Cappell will remain involved in the airport commercial sector. He can be contacted on Danny-cap1@hotmail.com
