Leasing allocations for the majority of new commercial tenants at London Luton Airport (LLA) are expected to finalise this month, the operator has told TRBusiness.

In a interview coinciding with the launch of last month’s Clinique and Aelia Duty Free arrivals activation to celebrate International Women’s Day, the airport confirmed the opening of up to 30 new retail brand offerings and F&B units this year with total retail space set to expand by 140%.

“The vast majority [of leases] expect to be in place by the end of April; we’ve still got some sizeable openings later this year including an additional executive lounge and a wine bar concept,” revealed Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer, LLA.

“There was a very strong focus on the process of not being universally led by commercial terms; clearly that is an important component, but actually it was about making sure we had the right mix that contributed towards an experience that people remember,” he continued.

“Quite often that isn’t the case with every airport shopping centre. We had a very clear strategy we followed throughout and naturally we are very excited to see the fruits of that come through.”

AELIA LAST-MINUTE STORE

As reported, LLA is in the midst of an £150m ($176m) terminal upgrade plan to add ‘much-needed’ capacity.

LLA handled 15.8m passengers last year and expects to reach 16.8m this year as it eyes a target of 18m by 2020.

This year, the airport will showcase to passengers retail brand offerings and catering outlets including Hugo Boss, Ted Baker, Hamleys, Kurt Geiger, Victoria’s Secret and an airport-first from Chanel in the form of a standalone unit.

From mid-May, Aelia Duty Free is set to open a last-minute departure store before the gates, which will stock a limited assortment of tobacco alongside best sellers from its core collection.

“In addition to great new brands, we’ve got some fantastic new shop fits, our partners like Ted Baker have clearly stepped up,” commented Mark Jennings, Head of Commercial Development, LLA.

In addition, a reconfigured landside space including the arrivals area is set to complete by the end of the month.

This feeds into a wider, phased transformation of the terminal, which includes upgrades to the central security area, with the majority of the transformation activity slated to complete in September.

SPP ‘PRETTY CONSISTENT’

Pollard points to a ‘pretty consistent’ story when it comes to current spend per passenger levels, however – and unsurprisingly for any airport – there are areas that could perform better.

The demise of scheduled charter and low-cost carrier Monarch Airlines in October struck a blow to airports including Luton that benefitted from passenger demand for the airline’s services.

“We’ve been able to work with Wizz Air that acquired the slots from Monarch and we’re working through what their operations will look like this year,” commented Pollard.

Notwithstanding Monarch’s demise, the increase in Wizz Air’s operations allows LLA to capitalise on its important Eastern European profile, which presently accounts for 26% of its passengers.

“With Wizz’s expanding operations to the sorts of destinations they are likely to be operating to, we’ll only see that percentage increase as a share of overall passengers,” added Pollard.

Jennings notes the ‘surprisingly high’ SPP level on Eastern European routes, including from Eastern European travellers and UK residents travelling to Eastern Europe.

“It is an area to focus on and understand how Eastern Europeans interact with social media, whether it is the same as UK citizens, these are the areas we want to explore,” he added.

As TRBusiness went to press on this report, Ardian, a 49% shareholder in LLA, has agreed to sell its stake in the airport to Australian global investment manager AMP Capital.

The stakeholder change does not affect Aena’s 51% majority shareholding and controlling stake in LLA.

For further comment from LLA and Lagardère Travel Retail, see the April issue of TRBusiness. Click here to subscribe.