London Luton launches major commercial tender programme

“We’re trying to change the whole customer experience and perception at London Luton.“

Rupert Lawrie Commercial Director London Luton Airport

UK. London Luton Airport today announced a major commercial tender programme, embracing some 47 units and 7,027sq m of retail and food & beverage space.

The programme, revealed via The Moodie Report, is integral to a hugely ambitious £100 million (US$152 million) airport redevelopment.

“This is a major part of our repositioning and we want to partner with leading brands across all the major categories,” Commercial Director Rupert Lawrie told The Moodie Report.

“The tender process for these commercial opportunities will begin this month and we expect to have a lot of interest, especially in the luxury and affordable luxury areas [see below for full details -Ed] where we have been under-represented previously, and where we are investing in over 1,500sq m of additional and dedicated space.

“This combined with our 1,700sq m walk-through tax and duty free store [already out to tender – see below] will create something very special,” Lawrie said.

Working with Rawls & Co, the airport has identified four clear zones for its expanded Departure Lounge – Luxury, Affordable Luxury, High Street and Food & Beverage.

“Having this zonal approach will allow us to create the right adjacencies for the retailers without creating a cul-de-sac, benefiting from 100% of passengers having the opportunity to see the entire offer,” Lawrie explained.

The tenders will be split into three tranches, currently set for April, July and September. The initial phases will cover design and contractual sign-off before moving onto the financial elements with all the details available online at http://www.london-luton.co.uk/concessiontenders

Four clear zones – Luxury, Affordable Luxury, High Street and Food & Beverage – will be created, offering maximum visibility for all outlets

Record year, record investment

The tenders follow the most successful year in the airport’s 76-year history, with some 10.5 million passengers choosing LLA in 2014.

“We are very excited to be starting our £100 million redevelopment plan to expand and improve LLA, which will take it from being a good airport to a great airport,” said Lawrie.

The redevelopment will include a new 1,500-space multi-storey car park; linked and covered walkways; a large external glazed piazza area; an additional passenger boarding pier; and new surface car parks with the added benefit of a dual carriageway coming into and leaving the airport.

The £100 million redevelopment plan will transform London Luton Airport from “good to great” says Rupert Lawrie

“We started this transformation at the end of last year with the introduction of a new future-focused visual identity,” Lawrie said. “The new brand will be the foundation of the airport’s new look and feel, which has already started with a refurbishment and redecoration of our terminal walkways, from the car parks to the terminal building and will flow through to our wayfinding and design materials as the airport redevelopment takes shape.

“The objective of this redefinition work is to start the repositioning of LLA as a leading airport serving London and the surrounding regions.”

Security changes create walk-through opportunity

Commercially speaking, several exciting elements of the redevelopment will be implemented this year, Lawrie said.

“The addition of a completely new ground floor landside retail and food & beverage offer will allow us to set the tone with passengers from their first interaction, providing a brand new space that can deliver an enticing offer to accommodate the anticipated future passenger growth,” he commented.

Importantly from both an operational and commercial perspective, the security search area will be moved to the ground floor to provide additional space on the first level. This, combined with extensions to the existing buildings, will provide an additional +107% of prime airside retail and food & beverage space.

Duty free result imminent

In March LLA will announce the winner of an open tender to run the airport’s new 1,700sq m walk-through tax & duty free store. Applications to bid have now closed and Lawrie said market reaction was encouraging.

“We’re very pleased with how it has gone,” he said. “It’s quite unusual for an open tender for a duty free operation in the London airport market to come up and it’s been perfect timing because we’ve gone from a “˜walk to store’ to a really fantastic walk-through store for 100% of passengers. The space will be where our security hall is currently and will be completely dedicated to the walk-through store.

“Our new Security Hall will boast 18 lanes, up from our current 12. So we’re investing in all the sub-systems so passengers can navigate the airport much, much more quickly.”

Later in May LLA will open what Lawrie described as a “state-of-the-art” Executive Lounge and spa facility. The ambitious facility will cost £1 million (US$1.52 million) to fit out and boasts a series of innovations such as snooze pods (pictured below).

The “state-of-the-art” Executive Lounge is designed to deliver a “wow” experience

“We’re trying to change the whole customer experience and perception at London Luton,” Lawrie enthused. “The lounge will cost a million pounds to fit out alone; that’s our first foot forward in terms of creating the new generation of this airport. We never would have made such an investment in an Executive Lounge before and we’re really hoping to give people the wow factor when they’re there.

“We’ve gone for an added-value, service-driven approach, so rather than send you to a self-help fridge we’ve got a full-sized bar. The bathrooms will be a wow and we’ve got innovations such as the snooze pods.”

The Executive Lounge’s potential will be enhanced by the fact that although predominantly a leisure traveller airport, some 19.5% of LLA’s passengers are travelling on business.

Airport snooze agents: Guest comfort will be at the heart of the London Luton Airport experience

Strong passenger demographics

Lawrie concluded: “We know that our passengers, who are predominately using us for leisure, deliver an excellent penetration rate for the retail and catering offer, combined with an excellent propensity to spend.

“We are very fortunate to have strong passenger demographics, with 79% of our passengers being ABC1. We’ve worked extensively with Pragma Consulting and Rawls & Co to understand our current passengers’ needs and anticipate future trends. We have run numerous consumer tests and this has seen brands such as Sisley, MAC, Victoria’s Secret and Hotel Chocolat lead our offer and most recently we’ve reached agreement with Wasabi to join our line-up from May.

In commercial terms London Luton Airport has strong passenger demographics with 79% of its passengers being classified as ABC1

As part of its planning application submission, LLA aims to achieve 18 million passengers by 2026 and is already ahead of the annual increases detailed in that application. The airport has just announced 11 new routes and three new airlines for 2015, including an all-business class service to New York, which will bring greater demand for luxury brands and an enhanced food & beverage offer.

easyJet is the dominant carrier, accounting for almost one in two passengers, a surprisingly high number of them business travellers

Future positive: As part of its planning application submission, London Luton Airport aims to achieve 18 million passengers by 2026. It is already ahead of the annual increases detailed in that application.

(Above and below) Luton’s expanding reach: Click on the above to view the enlarged image (then hover over graphs with your cursor and click for full detail)

Click on the above to view the enlarged image (then hover over graphs with your cursor and click for full detail)