Guest article – Challenges for European airport concessions amid slowing growth to 2030
In the third in a series about the future of European airport concessions compiled by Blueprint with data from ACI, Blueprint Partner Thomas Kaneko Henningsen discusses the importance of embracing digital in the right ways to boost passenger spend and engagement. Click here for part one in the series, and here for part two.
European airport retail concession revenue per passenger has been steadily declining since 2013, and worryingly, this negative trend is forecasted to continue over the next five years. That is based on airport association Airports Council International (ACI) World’s historical data and compiled by Blueprint Associate Thomas Thessen – previously a Chief Economist with Copenhagen Airport, a former ACI member and currently SAS Chief Analyst.
In our previous columns (linked above), we detailed our forecasts for airport concession revenue from 2023 to 2030. It showed that total global retail, F&B and duty-free concession revenue would grow +5.1% (CAGR) over the period with Europe trending below this at +3.6%.
What is usually agreed upon today is that the passenger experience and satisfaction are directly linked to spend. Therefore, airport retail should not be a simple transactional prospect for travellers, especially when it comes to those alluring high-end items that inevitably need guidance and interaction with in-store sales staff.
ACI has raised concerns that the airport commercial channel is not engaging sufficiently with digital. At last November’s Trinity Forum, the association unveiled a report called ‘Airport Commercial Digital Transformation Best Practices 2024’. It is designed to guide airports in their commercial transition.
In the report, the global airports association said: “Airports have made considerable investments in digital transformation to drive operational excellence, but they are far behind in adopting commercial digital technologies compared with industries such as retail and hospitality.”