Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL) has extended DFS/Flemingo’s old duty free contract for three months at the new T2.

 

As reported, the new terminal opened on 12 February. MIAL – which owns Mumbai Airport, or Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport – is understood to have contracted the joint venture operation quite late to run 6,000sq ft of space on a three-month extension of its old contract. The alternative was no duty free operation on day one.

 

It is not known whether this contract will be extended further, although it seems likely considering the original contract request was for a managing entity to operate some 50,850sq ft of retail. As reported at the time, this contract was originally awarded to the Aer Rianta International-Buddy Retail Pvt. Ltd joint venture last February – at the same time that Nuance won the 12,690sq ft Fashion, Luxury and Lifestyle Duty Free contract.

 

SEVERAL SHOPS ARE STILL CLOSED

Senior management at both DFS and Flemingo were both contacted separately by TRBusiness and neither were available for comment. Currently, DFS/Flemingo has a small part of the originally planned MIAL duty free operation up and running, while also opening a gourmet Indian shop.

 

Quite separately, about 30% of the terminal’s food and beverage outlets are open. Several other retail shops are also still unopened. Meanwhile, Nuance has built many of its specialist shops and some have been fully fitted out, while others are still being made ready.

 

The Aer Rianta International-Buddy Retail Pvt. Ltd joint venture originally won the duty free contract for the new $2bn terminal last January [http://www.trbusiness.com/index.php/regional/indian-sub-cont/12567-mumbai-airport-awards-t2-duty-free-contracts.html]

 

Aer Rianta had hoped this business would compliment its existing joint venture operation at Delhi Airport, so creating significant critical masse for the operator in India. Duty free liquor sales have historically been the dominant product category at Mumbai Airport, accounting for more than half of all sales turnover in the past.

 

The new four-level terminal has an annual passenger handling capacity of 40m and took five years to build. This latest retail hiccup is just the latest setback for the operation as a whole. The airport development itself was originally delayed for two years by the usual political and regulatory challenges associated with setting up business in India, with particular sensitivities associated with reclaiming land from slum areas.

 

INTEGRATED RETAIL DESIGN

According to the architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the retail hub has been designed to allow passengers to shop, eat, and watch aircraft take off through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

 

The company says: “Centrally located at the junction of the concourses and the terminal core, these commercial plazas provide a focal point of activity in close proximity to the gates.

 

“Within these spaces and throughout the concourses, culturally referential fixtures and details, such as custom chandeliers inspired by the lotus flower and traditional mirror mosaic work created by local artists, ground the traveller to a community and culture beyond the airport.” [Or at least they will when the airport is finished-Ed].