Travel retailers Aer Rianta International (ARI) and Lagardère Capital are relishing the opportunity to begin operations at the new Abu Dhabi Airport Midfield Terminal, which is finally due to open in 2019.

In 2015, ARI and French-Emirati joint-venture company, Lagardère Capital won the 10-year DF&TR concessions at the $2.94bn Midfield Terminal. The facility was scheduled to open in 2017, but pushed back two years due to construction issues.

Once the 742,000sq m terminal is complete, the capacity of the airport will increase to 45m.

ARI will design and operate the perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, skincare and sunglasses concession, which will complement its existing Middle Eastern operations in Bahrain, Beirut and Muscat.

MIDDLE EAST PRESENCE

Lagardère Capital will run the liquor and tobacco, confectionery and fine foods concession, adding to its strong Middle East presence in Saudi Arabia (Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah).

Passenger numbers at Abu Dhabi International Airport decreased -10.8% to around 7.3m between January and April 2018 compared to 8.2m during the same period last year. While traffic may be lower than both retailers initially forecast come the eventual opening, this does not appear to have prompted a change in strategy.

ARI’s Anthony Kenny told TRBusiness: “We are hugely excited. It is in our heartland of the Middle East and it is very important for us to be associated with a such a prestigious project. We are really confident of delivering a fantastic offer which will showcase the company at its best.”

He added: “We believe it is going to be opening in Q4 2019 and are full steam ahead in terms of building our operational readiness.”

In the meantime, ARI will stick to its operational plan derived before, during and after the tender process. “We have the plan chartered out and an experienced team who have successfully delivered our vision on numerous locations. We are very excited about offering real innovation and an exceptional customer experience.”

ARI will, however, keep an eye on potential changes to the customer profile and passenger mix in the build-up to the opening: “We consistently keep abreast of what is happening with the customer profile and passenger wherever we operate. Abu Dhabi is no different albeit we are not operating there yet.”

OPENING HOPE

Meanwhile, Lagardère Travel Retail is hoping there are no further delays to the opening of the terminal. Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman and CEO Dag Rasmussen told TRBusiness: “There is a real ‘political ambition’ to open the terminal at the end of 2019.

“I cannot guarantee it will open in December, but I don’t think it will be delayed more than a quarter or two from then. I’ve seen the site and walked the new terminal. They are working hard and want to deliver it.”

Regarding any tweaks to its original proposal, Rasmussen added: “What they asked us and we proposed was fairly clear so there hasn’t been any major change. We’ll probably have to do some work because of the reduced traffic at the start of [of the operation – ed], but not fundamentally.”

TRBusiness reached out to Abu Dhabi Airport Company for a progress report on the new terminal but has yet to receive a response.