The Chalhoub Group trading as ‘Cairo Airport Duty Free’ has won one of Cairo Airport Terminal 2’s five-year duty free departures concessions, while Egyptair and Dufry have been awarded departures and arrivals contracts which will all take effect when the expanded facility opens early next year.

 

A soft opening of T2 for testing is expected over the next few months, with the new facility expected to open before March of next year. The cost of expanding and renovating Terminal 2 is estimated at around $436m, with the World Bank loaning Egypt $280m towards the project.

 

The contract winners come as little surprise, following comments earlier this year from Cairo Airport Duty Free (CADF) General Manager Magued Mounir, who told TRBusiness that both Cairo Airport Duty Free and EgyptAir had already expressed keen interest in increasing their presences at the airport.

 

 

Once the terminal is officially open it is expected to handle some of the highest spending passenger traffic at the airport, including various Russian carriers, Sky Team members such as Air France, KLM, Middle East Airlines and Saudi Airlines.

 

It will also serve British Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air, Kuwait Air, Emirates, Oman Air and Etihad. These airlines will transfer from Terminal 1 where the total number of passengers currently served by the terminal is close to 4m. [For more information click here: http://www.trbusiness.com/regional-news/middle-east/egyptair-eyes-more-space-as-cairo-issues-tenders/77393].

 

Responding to a series of questions from TRBusiness on the award to Cairo Airport Duty Free, Chalhoub Group’s General Manager, Travel Retail, John Reynolds (inset, right) said: “Cairo International Airport’s Terminal 2 is undergoing a major renovation and will have a capacity of 7.5m passengers a year. The project involves the construction of a new departure hall and a new airside pier, with the official opening expected after the first quarter of 2016.

 

 

“Cairo Airport Duty Free will have around 650sq m in Cairo Airport Terminal 2 and is currently working on the layout and designs for the shops. We also operate duty free shops in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and will benefit from our experience there in planning the product offering for T2, as most of the airlines currently operating in Terminal 1 will transfer to Terminal 2.

 

“We review our offering on a regular basis to ensure that we match our passenger needs in terms of products, competitive prices, promotions and service levels.”

 

 

Asked by TRBusiness whether it might not get a little crowded in T2 with three operators in one terminal, Reynolds responded: “Many airports have one duty free operator, some two – as in Cairo Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 at the moment – and relatively few with three operators, which will be the case in Terminal 3.

 

“This will be a new experience for us as we have only operated duty free in a one operator (Kuwait Duty Free previously) and two operator models.”