Passenger traffic, airport delays, acquisitions and DF&TR operator news in brief, from London, Spain, Berlin, LSTR, Oslo, ANA, Copenhagen and Dublin.

 

Three groups battle it out for Stansted

The Macquarie Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings and the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) are understood to be the final contenders to acquire “London” Stansted Airport, which handed 17.2m passengers last year. The airport is involved a fire sale after Ferrovial-controlled BAA – now renamed Heathrow Holdings – was forced by Britain’s competition regulator to sell it. Commentators rightly suggest that the airport will not command a premium price as Ryanair accounts for 70% of its traffic. World Duty Free is the current DF&TR operator.

 

Spain handled nearly 58m tourists

Spain – where tourism accounts for 11% of GDP – handled 1.2m more foreign tourists from a total of just under 58m who spent €56bn ($75bn) in 2012 – a 6% increase on the previous year and nearly €1,000 per visitor. Tourism authorities pointed to more higher spending Russians and Brazilians and diverted tourism due to the political unrest in North Africa and a relatively weak euro.

 

Berlin hit by yet more delays

Berlin Brandenburg Airport is now not expected to be ready until 2015 after a third opening delay was announced making it three years late. Known as the Willy Brandt Airport, the facility has been plagued with problems and has now failed to meet airport fire regulations on more than one occasion. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit stepped down as the head of the board recently, marking the fourth year of delays associated with the opening.

 

LSTR takes over Coffee Fellows

LS travel retail Deutschland has acquired the Münich-based Coffee Fellows’ coffee shops located in train stations throughout Germany (around 20 points of sales). The company says that the deal – effective January 1, 2013 – marks the beginning of a strong partnership giving LSTR Deutschland exclusive master-franchise rights in the travel retail segment of the market. The individual locations will continue to be run by the current local partners. LS travel retail plans to expand the Coffee Fellows brand to cover more travel retail locations in train stations and airports.

 

Oslo’s record 22.1m passengers

Oslo Gardermoen Airport handled a record 22.1m passengers last year, some 4.6% or 980,000 more than in 2011, with growth most pronounced on international routes, with an additional 680,000 travellers. International charter traffic rose strongly by 10.7%, while domestic traffic increased by 2.9 % or 290 000.

 

ANA passenger traffic +1.9%

Passenger traffic at ANA Airports showed an accumulated growth of 1.9% (+ 539,000 passengers) compared to 2011 with the low-cost sector growing by 4.9% (+ 451,600 passengers). Traffic at Lisbon grew by +3.5%, Faro by +1% and at Porto by+0.8%. Traffic fell at the other airports of Azores (-5.9%) and Beja (-13.9%). Lisbon Airport broke the 15m-passenger barrier for the first time, while Porto Airport handled just over 6m passengers, with Faro’s numbers some 0.3m lower than this figure.

 

Copenhagen handled 23.3m in 2012

Copenhagen Airport recorded a new record of 23.3m (+2.7%) passengers in 2012, despite five airline bankruptcies impacting operations during the year, with international traffic up 5.3% and strong transfer passengers (+7.3%) underwriting the performance.

 

Dublin traffic up by 2% to 19.1m

Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport rose by 2% in 2012 to 19.1m with a notable 16% rise in long-haul traffic compared to just +1% in short-haul. Total traffic at the Dublin Airport Authority’s (DAA) three airports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon rose by 1% to 22.8m, although Shannon no longer comes under the DAA today. An additional 360,000 passengers used Dublin Airport last year, with international arriving and departing passengers up by 4and nearly 8.8m used T2.