With increasing flight delays, the airport experience can be a frustrating one. But is this set to continue? And what are the prospects for airport retail? Airport Retail Consultants director Stephen Walsh offers his vision of how airports will develop in the next 20 years.

Weitnauer Singapore has been quietly building its electronics business at Singapore Changi and it?s not finished yet. DFNI examines the outlook for the category as the global downturn deepens.

Bidders for the Changi T2 lifestyle electronics concession which Weitnauer Singapore took over in August 2001.

Dubai Duty Free has chalked up an impressive first half-year, and despite the well-documented difficulties in the electronics industry, the retailer is confident it can maintain its high performance. Rebecca Mann reports.

After-sales service, good prices and product seminars are high on the retailer?s wish-list from suppliers. Gwp promotions have also proved to work well, in conjunction with a number of sales staff incentives.

They share the same customers, but they don?t share the business. It continually baffles me that airlines and airports don?t work together in travel-retail. By Johan Schölvinck, founder and managing director of Market Square Consult.

The Scotch whisky industry has weathered centuries of pressure from fluctuating tastes, spiralling production costs and?not least?the taxman to remain intact as an example of Scotland?s defining treasures. And Highland Distillers is one of the most faithful guardians of that treasure. John Rimmer visited the company at a busy time for new product development.

The Nuance Group's global operations in facts and figures.

In a frank interview, Petersen insists there will be no break-up of Nuance, and says he and the rest of the management team will be central to the search for what he calls ?a new partner?.

DFNI reports on insights from eight members of the supplier and analyst community.

On this page and the following pages, DFNI reports on the impending sale of The Nuance Group. We have interviews with Nuance ceo Peter Petersen and Allders ceo Harvey Lipsith, who masterminded the sale of Allders International to Swissair. We provide up to date statistics on the value of the business, and gauge airport authority and trade reaction. And we ask who the frontrunners are for the world?s leading airport travel-retail business.

The Nuance Group has just retained its five-year duty-free concession at Copenhagen Kastrup airport, a contract that begins next March. Also this Summer, in a joint venture with Asian retailers Watson?s, the company took its first step into Singapore Changi airport, winning the T2 fragrances and cosmetics concession, which began this month.     DFNI spoke to retail managers at both locations.

Key management figures in The Nuance Group regional and corporate operations.

Allders ceo Harvey Lipsith has a unique insight into the sale of Nuance, having presided over the sale of Allders International to Swissair in 1996.

 The Nuance Group ceo Peter Petersen says interest in the Nuance sale has soared since the announcement on August 30. But the challenge for management is to fetch a price for Nuance that reflects its value as a global business rather than signalling Swissair?s desperation through its determination to sell and its timetable for doing so. Who, in these circumstances, can afford to proceed? DFNI assesses the main contenders.

This year?s Cannes symposium, TFWA World Exhibition, will host five different sports on Sunday, October 21.

BAA?s Aviation Ball on September 12 was cancelled due to the tragic events in the US. The ball, in aid of the National Children?s Helpline, will be rescheduled later this year.

The Keepers of the Quaich is an international society which fosters understanding and recognition of the Scotch whisky industry. Membership is strictly by invitation, and granted only to those judged to have contributed to the international success of Scotland?s favourite product. At this year?s Spring ceremony and banquet at Blair Castle in Scotland, DFNI publisher Martin Moodie was nominated as a Keeper by William Grant & Sons?a company which virtually built the single malt category in duty-free with its flagship brand Glenfiddich. He reports on a very special occasion.

Consumers face a bewildering choice of liquor brands in duty-free with retailers employing increasingly sophisticated marketing methods. Marketing agency Iris has conducted research into how consumers respond to promotions and discovered three major principles of best practice. Iris founder Ian Milner reports.

Reports some original campaigns from Martell, Ballantine?s Gold Seal and Crown Royal.

INTERNATIONAL. A new service launched this month aims to give consumers the ability to use their credit cards while shopping at airports, yet purchase in their own currency, anywhere in the world.

FRANCE. LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton posted a 15% drop in first-half profits last week and cut its full-year operating profit target following this week?s tragic events in the US. Operating losses at its Selective Distribution arm, which includes DFS Group and Sephora, rose to E92m ($83.6m) from E21m ($19m) in the first half of 2000, as the weakening yen took its toll.

IRAQ. France-based company Financial Links has signed a landmark deal to become exclusive concessionaire at Iraq?s airports and downtown shops, DFNI can reveal.

SINGAPORE. The new terminal three at Singapore Changi airport will integrate retail and food and beverage operations in a style very different from T1 and T2, the airport authority has said.

SOUTH AMERICA. The fifth conference of the South American duty-free association ASUTIL held on September 9-11 was rated a success by most of the 160 delegates. But the event was overshadowed by the breaking news of the terrorist attacks in the US on day two of the conference.

SWITZERLAND. The Nuance Group will be auctioned as one company and not broken up or sold region by region, company ceo Peter Petersen told DFNI. ?The value of the business lies in Nuance as a global chain,? he insisted. By Dermot Davitt

For those of us who earn our living from the travel or aviation industries, reaction to this week?s tragic events in the US is one of disbelief, sadness and horror, mixed with an awareness that things will never be the same again.

SWITZERLAND. The second airline conference organised by Fernand Lang of Lemantrade and Duty Free Business was held on September 10 in Geneva. It tackled the question ?What future do you want?or deserve??.

AUSTRALIA. Melbourne airport has invited a selected number of companies to tender for its duty-free concession, at present operated by The Nuance Group. The new contract begins in November 2002.

EU EUROPE. The European Travel Research Foundation (ETRF) and Focus 1999 have formally closed and their residual funds have been donated to charity. The companies were formed to research the impact of the end of intra-EU duty-free and to coordinate the campaign against abolition.

NEW ZEALAND. Auckland International airport is to call a tender for duty-free stores later this year. Current licences expire at the end of September 2002.

DENMARK. Concession Planning International (CPI) has completed a concession planning study at Copenhagen Kastrup airport, one of the busiest airports in Europe, and has presented proposals for the retail and catering mix at the location.

Moves by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to abolish duty-free tobacco are ?a sham?, a leading industry activist told delegates at the recent ASUTIL conference.