Dufry Group has negotiated a contract extension with Finnish airport operator Finavia to run duty free and duty paid stores at Helsinki Airport (HEL) for a further five years.

The global travel retailer, which has forged a successful partnership with Finavia over the last nine years, will run eight shops in total over 3,624sq m.

Five of these are duty free stores situated in the Schengen and non-Schengen zones.

Dufry will operate one duty paid arrivals shop and two speciality stores – Max Mara and Burberry – in the non-Schengen area.

As reported, Finavia is currently undertaking a significant restructuring of Helsinki Airport that will reconfigure the passenger journey.

NEW ARRIVALS STORE

On 1 December, the airport operator opened Helsinki Airport’s Terminal 2 extension featuring modern, refreshed departures and arrivals halls.

Dufry will refurbish its Schengen main duty free store and build a new arrivals store as part of its new contract agreement.

Isabel Zarza, Chief Operating Officer, Central & North Europe, Russia and Africa, Dufry, commented: “We are very excited to extend and prolong our long-lasting relationship with Finavia and to continue to operate the store portfolio at Helsinki Airport, which is the busiest airport in Finland and an important location for Dufry.

“Helsinki is one of the most important hubs to Asia in Europe as well as an attractive location in the Nordics. Dufry is proud to be part of and actively contributing to Finavia’s impressive development programme at Helsinki Airport.”

Speaking on behalf of Finavia, Nora Immonen, Director of Commercial Business at Helsinki Airport, added: “We at Finavia look forward to continuing our long-lasting partnership with Dufry.

“Helsinki Airport is currently undergoing extensive development work and we are excited to see Dufry as part of our upgraded commercial selection in the future. We are convinced that the newly refurbished stores as well as the strong brands and favoured products within them will offer our customers an exceptional experience at the airport.”

In an interview with TRBusiness last year, Finavia confirmed it was seeking partners to run lifestyle, fashion and retail concessions in line with the expansion of the airside area at Terminal 2.