Veteran inflight retail and supply executive John Garner has come out of retirement to create a new business called the In Flight Consultancy Company.
“We have offices in Fort Lauderdale and will open in the UK early this year,” Garner told The Moodie Davitt Report.
Garner is an experienced and respected inflight retail executive. His career spans over 25 years across the duty free, distribution and inflight retail channels.
He joined Allders International (long since subsumed into what is now Dufry) in 1994 to head its distribution division called Ocean Trading as Managing Director. The company was performing poorly and barely profitable. Within 18 months, Garner had restructured the business, opened subsidiaries in Scandinavia and Greece, and turned the business into Allders’ most profitable division.
Initially, Ocean Trading primarily supplied cross-channel ferries, Scandinavian and Greek shipping, and some airport shops. In his third year, Garner created an airline distribution business supplying all leading UK airlines.
Talking to The Moodie Davitt Report today, he recalled, “Systems were somewhat antiquated in the business, so I had a team of specialists create a touchscreen POS and back office which was swiftly accepted by the crew and had a major impact on losses. This led to the first inflight full concession in Europe with Excalibur Airways.
| John Garner can be contacted by email on jgdutyfree@gmail His office address is: The In Flight Consultancy Company 333 Las Olas Way Suite 3007 Fort Lauderdale Florida 33301 USA |
Later, Garner worked with Miami-based DFASS (now 3Sixty Duty Free) to develop the inflight retail and supply business globally, helping to generate a strong portfolio of airlines including some of the world’s major legacy carriers.
As the business grew, Garner moved to Florida, initially as Business Development Director before being promoted to President Asia Pacific, and then Deputy Chairman.
“The business grew substantially and our presence in the industry changed accordingly,” Garner said. “It was then renamed [to 3Sixty Duty Free] and I left on my 65th birthday [13 December 2018 -Ed]. I have boundless energy and can’t wait to get back to work. My contacts within aviation are exemplary as they are with industry vendors. I also see a great opportunity to revitalise cross-channel and European airline business with the onset of Brexit.”
