Haitham Al Majali CEO, Jordanian Duty Free Shops revealed that the MEADFA conference will take place in Jordan in 2015, during his presentation last week during MEADFA 2014, in Dubai.

 

In March this year, Jordan’s largest Airport, The Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) celebrated the 1st anniversary of its new terminal under the management of Airport International Group (AIG).

 

Right: The new Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) terminal which commemorated its 1-year anniversary in March earlier this year.

 

At the Jumeirah Creekside hotel, Al Majali gave a brave and honest presentation about a particularly tough period during the ‘Syrian crisis’, during which Jordanian Duty Free Shops (JDF) saw a 30% decline in sales. It was at this time (2011 in particular) that the company had 120 employees on payroll and did not have the revenue to cover their wages, due to the aforementioned catastrophic drop in sales.

 

‘EMERGENCY PLAN’

He said that an emergency plan was implemented to compensate losses through the company’s seaport and downtown shops. “We had to increase transaction value and increase passengers,” he said.

 

Haitham Al Majali CEO, Jordanian Duty Free Shops.

 

Through the use of marketing campaigns, staff training, strong promotions in various categories, JDF was able to increase the average basket size by more than 40%. The company closed 2013 with record sales of $65m and in 2014 it expects to hit $80m.

 

He said that he thought this was an incredible achievement considering that in 1997 JDF had just two shops and were making $250,000 a year. “Jordanian Duty Free Shops is now one of the leading companies on the public market in Jordan,” he said.

 

Al Majali talked of JDF’s new three-floor diplomatic duty free shop, which is currently in development. Al Majali spoke of his admiration of Dubai and its achievements and said that its ‘model’ was something that Jordan strived to follow.

 

nd regarding the challenging period Jordan experienced in previous years he said, “every crisis presents an opportunity to improve our operations.” He ended his presentation by saying that despite an often-turbulent past, the future is bright for Jordan.

 

Back in March, AIG CEO Kjeld Binger said that since taking over QAIA’s management in 2007, AIG has consistently reached ‘bigger and more rewarding milestones’. “Our first year since the launch of the new terminal has been especially record-breaking, what with the significant increase in passenger traffic and the numerous awards and accolades received.”