TRBusiness sat down recently with Fraser Brown, Retail Director at Heathrow Airport to discuss travel and spending dynamics at the London hub and across the wider DF&TR industry and the continued lack of a tax free shopping regime at UK airports, among other topics.

Watch the full video interview by clicking the link below…

Brown echoed industry sentiments that point to a more wholesome recovery in international passenger traffic figures, played out in data shared by aviation authorities including IATA and ACI.

In the case of the latter, half-yearly statistics revealed a 17% uplift on the same period in 2023 and a 1.4% increase on 2019.

For context, the association has forecast an 11.5% rise in global passengers in full year 2024 versus last year, with a predicted recovery to the 2019 level in full-year 2024 (9.78 billion passengers) and reaching 19.5 bn by 2042 and 24.5bn by 2052.

Revenge spending has largely disappeared, acknowledged Brown, with the tougher sales environment being felt across the categories requiring a sharpened focus on retail basics.

He commented: “We are having to work harder for sales; pre-pandemic the rise of the Chinese consumer – and in Asia more generally – and the continuing trend for more travel driven by demographic changes and LCC penetration drove industry growth [pre-pandemic]. We don’t have those to the same extent. What we’re having to do is take the great passenger numbers that we’ve got and drive the growth ourselves as an industry and that is a different dynamic.”

During the conversation, Heathrow’s Retail Director responded to a recent Kearney report citing the growth disconnect between travel retail sales and passenger volumes at +18% and +30%, respectively, in 2023.

Separately, the airport recently announced a £2.3 billion accelerated investment plan to support enhancements across the terminals over the next two years, including funnelling improvements through its retail areas.

It represents the largest private sector capital investment in UK transport infrastructure, according to Heathrow.

As reported, Heathrow handled 70.3 million passengers between Jan to October 2024 – a 6% year-on-year increase.

It served more than 6.5m travellers last month – its highest-ever November. It expects to report its busiest December on record as it eyes circa 84 million pax in 2024.

Fraser Brown spoke to TRBusiness during the recent TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes.

This publication was on location at Heathrow Terminal 2 over the 2024 summer months to assess the push-and-pull factors influencing the London Hub’s fiercely competitive commercial environment.

An exclusive three-part video interview touched on managing tenant demand, revealed the onboarding of new retail units, probed the evolution of Heathrow’s Reserve & Collect service and updated on the impact on luxury sales linked to the removal of the airside tax free concession. To watch the video series in full, click here.

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