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Darwin gauges interest ahead of duty-free tenderDarwin gauges interest ahead of duty-free tender
Gavin Lipsith
17-Aug-2006
The northern Australian airport is seeking expressions of interest for a 10-year contract to operate arrivals and departures duty-free and landside retail outlets
Darwin International airport is seeking expressions of interest for a package of duty-free and duty-paid retail opportunities. On offer is a 10-year concession covering departures and arrivals duty-free space as well as retail outlets in the airport's new Swing Lounge, an area linking the domestic and international departures lounges that can be used to extend either lounge, to create domestic or international VIP lounges or to function as a landside area serving domestic passengers when there are no international flights.Commercial manager Rebecca Cook told DFNI Asia that the airport had not decided on the exact size or location of outlets, but that it intended to gauge interest from prospective retailers before making final plans to be published in the tender documents. The incumbent retailer at Darwin is The Nuance Group, which has operated at the airport since 1999 and whose current contract expires at the end of January 2007.
"We decided to go for a 10-year contract because of new developments at the airport and for capital reasons," said Cook. "In light of the longer contract we are going to market to see which companies are interested before we publish the tender."
The new contract will commence on February 1 2007, and prospective retailers should provide proof of their ability to start on that date along with an application letter, details of past and current duty-free retail operations, annual reports for the past three years including audited company accounts, and details on corporate structure including the business and trading name under which the company would operate. The submissions deadline is 4pm on Monday September 4.
Darwin served 1.43m passengers in 2005, of which 334,000 were international. Tiger Airways, Qantas, Royal Brunei, Garuda Indonesia, Merpati and Aimorth/Regional Link all operate international routes from Darwin. The airport anticipated that the ongoing military presence and oil and gas prospects in the Timor Sea were likely to fuel rapid passenger growth in the future.
The airport declined to disclose the current level or recent growth of duty-free sales at this stage.
Interested parties should contact Cook at email: rebecca.cook@ntairports.com.au or tel: +61 8 8920 1811.
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