According to Chongqing Airport Commercial Division Manager Gao Ya Li, the airport will shortly be looking for new retailers to show interest in the 50,000sq m of new commercial space that the airport’s new Terminal 3A development will contain, when it opens in June 2016.

 

Gao Ya Li told the China’s Century Conference last week that Chongqing is China’s largest city with a population of 33m people, which is located on the Yangtze River – the only municipality directly under central government control in West China. The Three Natural Bridge is also a world heritage site at the location.

 

 

She added that it is also rated as one of China’s seven best cities in which to invest, according to the Financial Times, with total GDP in 2014 of RMB.1426.5bn ($232bn) and a growth rate of 10.9% – the fastest recorded by any city in China last year. The airport is also developing at a very fast pace.

 

Chongqing is the eighth biggest airport in terms of passenger traffic in China and the fastest growing within the top 10. Passenger traffic reached 29.26m in 2014, representing a 15.8% growth and airport management is expecting 32m passengers this year. This will grow again to more than 35m when the new Terminal 3A comes into service in 2016.

 

Currently the airport connects with 45 international and regional destinations, including Sydney, Helsinki, Doha, San Francisco, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore and others.

 

 

The existing retail area consists of 6,500sq m, supported by additional catering space of 7,500sq m (Chinese and western-style F&B) and an airport-wide advertising area of 5,000sq m. Retail consists of local food, convenience store, clothing, accessories, jewellery, cosmetics, watches, bags, toys etc. Retail brands already trading at the airport include Ferragamo, Zegna, Max Mara, Bally, Coach, Swarovski and more.

 

The T3A Commercial Plan gets underway with retail first between June and July 2015, followed by catering in August and advertising in September of this year.

 

 

Gao Ya Li said the airport will be publicizing the RFPs shortly with the ultimate aim of attracting a good mix of both international and local brands to the new terminal facility. She added that the airport welcomes approaches from any brands interested in establishing a new presence at the location.

 

The Chongqing Airport Group can be contacted at: Tel: 86 2367152358 or Fax: 86 2367823075. Gao Ya Li can be contacted by email at: [email protected]