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Airport Group Launches Series to Highlight Negative Impact of Private Developers in Airport Concessions

Dépèche transmise le 25 février 2011 par Business Wire

Airport Group Launches Series to Highlight Negative Impact of Private Developers in Airport Concessions

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Airport Group, the national airport policy and development arm of UNITE HERE, has released the first in a series of analyses about the use of private developers in the airport concessions industry and its negative impact on the airport community. The series, titled AIRMALLed: Failures of the Airport Concessions Private Developer Model, will be the basis for an ongoing industry-wide dialogue about this model.

Food and retail concessions in airports provide essential amenities and entertainment for travelers, but they are also an essential non-aviation revenue source that helps to cover airport operating costs, as well as an important industry for local businesses and working families. While most airports manage and directly contract with concessions companies to operate food and retail facilities, some airports have hired a private developer to manage concessions operations for them. The Airport Group's AIRMALLed series will explore the impact of private concessions developers on the airport's bottom line and on other airport stakeholders such as concessions companies, the workforce, passengers and airlines. The series examines airport systems that utilize the concessions developer model and measure results against peer airports without private developers.

The first piece in the series, Less Rent Generated under the Developer Model, demonstrates that the percentage rent of concessions sales paid to airports which utilize the concessions developer Airmall USA (Baltimore/Washington, Boston Logan, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland Hopkins International Airports) are lower than rents collected by peer airports. The analysis can be viewed at http://www.airportgroup.info/AIRMALLed_LessRent_Feb2011.pdf.

The Airport Group will be monitoring the list of airport markets with upcoming concessions redevelopment that may be considering the developer approach. This list includes Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle Tacoma, Atlanta and Detroit.

The Airport Group is the Airport and Infrastructure research, policy and development arm of UNITE HERE.

UNITE HERE is the union for travel hospitality workers, representing 25,000 airport workers across the U.S. and Canada. UNITE HERE-represented airports serve 80% of U.S. airline passengers and generate over $3 billion in annual concessions sales.