TREND has formally confirmed a report published earlier today in the Economic Times of India that Aer Rianta International (ARI) has joined forces with Flemingo International to form a joint venture company to bid for

major airport duty free contracts in India.
An ARI spokesman in Shannon confirmed this morning that the joint venture has been formed, although he preferred not to comment any further until there was something more tangible to report.
ARI's involvement in the new venture will be managed from Shannon and the company has already separately prequalified for the Hyderabad Airport duty free contract where a decision is expected this year, even though it failed to make the shortlist at Bangalore, where a tender process is also ongoing.
This new joint venture with Flemingo International is expected to concentrate on bidding for contracts at Delhi and Mumbai airports. Rumours of ARI's possible involvement with Flemingo were first flagged up in TREND on October 18 (‘Fast track duty free Delhi’) and follow earlier comments from Flemingo International joint Managing Director Mahendra Thakar to TREND that the company might look for a major international partner.
The new joint venture has now submitted a bid for the new duty free contract at Delhi airport where incumbent operator, the India Tourism Development Corp (ITDC) was precluded from bidding because it had no international partner.A three-year interim contract is currently on offer at Delhi, with an award expected at the end of this month and a new operator expected to take the helm on January 1 2007.
Technically, the deadline for submission of bids has already passed, but India being India means that this might be extended if ITDC finds a partner quickly, although some believe it may have left it too late.
This ‘fast track’ bid gave interested parties just 18 days from the release of tender documents to submission and some companies have told TREND that they are concerned that they will have only two months to set up shop and bring in stock before the commencement of the contract on January 1 2007.
The GMR-Fraport Consortium which won the contract to develop Delhi Airport has issued the interim duty free contract to bridge the gap between now and its ultimate goal of constructing a new integrated domestic and international terminal building at Delhi.