Fewer fliers but greater spend lifts Copenhagen Airports

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An improvement in retail sales at Copenhagen Kastrup airport has offset a downturn in passenger numbers to help airport authority Copenhagen Airports achieve a 12% year-on-year profit increase for the first half of 2003.

An improvement in retail sales at Copenhagen Kastrup airport has offset a downturn in passenger numbers to help airport authority Copenhagen Airports achieve a 12% year-on-year profit increase for the first half of 2003. The airport's Atrium shopping mall, operated by The Nuance Group, was enlarged and reopened in June 2002. Since then, footfall has improved considerably, according to Copenhagen Airports vice-president commercial affairs Anette Haugaard.

?The shop was doubled in size,? she told TRW, ?so we have more possibilities to present our items, especially in perfumes and cosmetics. The increase in sales has been largely due to this. We've grown sales thanks to a combination of more people in the store and higher spend.?

Haugaard pointed out that growth had been achieved in spite of disappointing passenger numbers. ?We were 2% down on passengers in 2002 [from 2001] and now we are 4.5% down on last year. This is primarily down to challenges facing the airlines, some of whom have cut routes. Our performance is very encouraging considering the fall in passenger numbers.?