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Ryanair is one of the key airlines at Bologna, which has enjoyed strong traffic growth in recent years |
ITALY. Gebr Heinemann has secured the contract to operate duty free and duty paid retail at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport following a competitive tender. The ten-year contract commences on 1 January and initially covers two airside stores: one duty paid outlet of 113sq m in the airport’s Schengen zone, and a smaller 86sq m duty free store for non-Schengen passengers.
Once the renovation of Bologna’s passenger terminal is completed in late 2012 or early 2013 Heinemann will move into larger, walk-through outlets of 555sq m (Schengen) and 283sq m (non-Schengen).
The move is a significant one for Heinemann, which until now has not operated any stores in the Italian travel retail market. The tender attracted interest from a number of international operators, among them understood to be Dufry, which has a long-standing presence in Italy through its Dufrital joint venture,and Aelia. Flemingo, through its recent Polish acquisition Baltona, is also understood to have bid.
Bologna Airport Non-Aviation Business Director Stefano Gardini said: “This partnership is for us a cause of great satisfaction and it represents an important trade agreement, reached after a complex selection procedure with 12 expressions of interest. The international [expertise] of the Heinemann group, along with its attention to local products, constitutes the best promise for a top level product offering.”
Heinemann Business Development Director Jens Degner said: “Bologna Airport is one of the most interesting airports in Italy: it is well connected to all major European destinations and has an excellent traffic forecast for the upcoming years. This new opening means for us a significant opportunity, also with the prospects of future development in Italy, which we enter for the first time. We are quite confident we will exceed performance indicators from comparable duty free and duty paid operations in Europe.”
Bologna Airport welcomed 4.77 million passengers in 2009, an increase of +13.3% on the previous year. International traffic was up by +11.1% to 3.33 million. Ryanair added a new aircraft to its operations at Bologna earlier this year. The airport won the ACI Europe Best Airport Award in the 1-5 million passenger category in 2009.
Bologna Airport is majority-owned by the city’s Chamber of Commerce and other regional development agencies.
