Nice Côte d’Azur Airport today provided a timely update on its ongoing retail development at Terminal 2, during the ACI Europe 26^th Airport Commercial & Retail Conference & Exhibition.

During a panel session exploring brand new centres of commercial excellence opening in 2017-20, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur Chief Commercial Officer Filip Soete confirmed that its Terminal 2 developments will complete in May.

These include four areas: Cote d’Azur (essentials), France (essentials), airport (essentials) and Trendsetters (must-haves).

The Kooples debuted in a world airport first, four days ago.

Meanwhile, luxury and fashion concessions from Paul & Shark, Zilli, Tumi, Etro, Armani and Salvatore Ferragamo will open in May with Dufry Group.

These will accompany outlets from French perfumier Fragonard and So Nice.

Swatch’s Hour Passion concept and a new F&B spread, including Petrossain Caviar, will arrive in June.

A new Hermes outlet, one of only a handful in airports, will arrive in September.

AELIA T2 STORE SHOWING ‘FANTASTIC RESULTS’

These accompany a spread of new F&B outlets, including Petrossian in June, and a collaboration between Michelin-starred Chef Mauro Colagreco named Estivale slated for Q1 2018.

Nice Cote d’azur registered 68 shops and restaurants in 2016, including 31 retail units, six duty free stores, 19 F&B and 12 services.

As reported, Aelia Duty Free inaugurated its new 840sqm walkthrough store at Terminal 2 in February following the conclusion of a modernisation programme at Terminal 1 last year, with the area reporting “fantastic results so far”, according to Soete.

Improvements at Terminal 1 have increased the retail space by +160% to 3,550sqm, while improvements at Terminal 2 will double the space at T2 to 3,322sqm.

Soete said three main consultants were selected for the retail developments, with The Design Solution handling master planning, Martine Leherpeur Conseil taking care of retailing; with the tender and economics guided by Avia Alliance.

“We worked a lot with Leherpeur to define our passenger offer,” Soete told the audience, which also includes entry-level merchandise.

Improving the PAX experience, maximising non-aeronautical revenues, and improving terminal operations remain key priorities.

On the opening day of the conference, which focuses on driving the €10.38 average spend per passenger at European airports, host Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur greeted delegates with its convivial ‘faire de vivre’ welcome.

NICE ‘NOT CHASING PAX’

Soete began by providing a taste of the airport’s expansive overhaul of its retail and commercial mix.

“We do not want to dilute the average profile of our passengers, we are not running after millions of PAX,” added Dominique Thillaud, CEO, emphasising the need to build on spend per pax

The Riviera hub handled 12.4m passengers last year and remains the second busiest airport in France after the Paris locations.

For a detailed conference report, watch out for the May issue of TRBusiness, available soon.