Record commercial sales for Abu Dhabi Airports in H1 2015

The top performing categories were F&B and Duty Free, but there was also growth across all of the company’s commercial activities, including specialty retail, hospitality, banking and currency exchange, car parking, advertising and the Skypark Plaza operations.

The reported increase in sales follows the launch of an intensive 2015 marketing campaign and focus on optimizing the width and breadth of the commercial offerings. The first half of 2015 has already seen “spin and win” competitions in a number of F&B outlets in Terminal 1, which gave passengers the opportunity to win cash vouchers for Duty Free, and airline tickets to multiple destinations; and prize draws for luxury cars to be won by anyone spending AED200 in Duty Free. A Porsche Panemera was given away to a lucky winner in April, followed by a Maserati Ghibli in July.  The next car available to win will be a Chevrolet Corvette in October. Abu Dhabi International Airport also saw the opening of a number of new retail outlets in the first half of 2015, including, Police sunglasses and Lambretta watches. CNN café, the first in the world at an airport, the Montreux Jazz Café, and Camden Food Company, added to the variety of new food and beverage outlets at Abu Dhabi International Airport, when they opened in December last year.

Abu Dhabi Airports’ acting chief commercial officer Dan Cappell said: “The continued increase in sales is a reflection of our commitment to providing passengers with the diverse range of high quality services and offerings that they can expect at a major international airport, and having exceptional partnerships with our concessionaires. The performance is all the more noteworthy given the reduction in Chinese spending, the changing dynamics of the Asian economies, and the currency variations that impact the value for money offered.

“Abu Dhabi Duty Free, in conjunction with our partners, will continue to focus on improving the customer experience. Our retail and food & beverage refurbishment programme will enable us to offer our passengers the widest possible choice, through exclusive offers, product launches and innovative promotional campaigns, delivering great value and excellent customer service.”