Retail focus boosts Rome airports

Gavin Lipsith

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Parent company Macquarie Airports reports strong retail revenue growth at Aeroporti di Roma's Fiumicino and Ciampino airports

Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino airport authority Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) has recorded an 8.7% increase in EBITDA for the first half of the year, driven by improvements to duty-free retailing, passenger growth and cost control. Parent company Macquarie Airports, which reported the results yesterday, promised more retail initiatives in the second half of the year.

EBITDA for the first half reached €119.9m ($149.9m), while revenues grew by 5.7% to €278.5m ($348.1m) and operating costs grew 3.4% to €153.4m ($191.2m). In the second quarter, EBITDA grew 12.2% to €68.6m ($85.8m), revenues increased by 6.8% to €150.9m ($188.6m) and operating costs grew 2.8% to €82.3m ($102.9m).

Passenger traffic at Fiumicino grew by 4.7% compared with the same period in 2004, reaching 13.7m, and at Ciampino it grew by 65.4% to reach 1.9m in the first half of 2005. Total traffic growth for the period was up 9.5%.

Macquarie CEO Kerrie Mather singled out duty-free retailing for particular praise. "Duty-free revenue per passenger for the first half grew by 8.0% over the previous corresponding period," she said, "largely due to improvements made to the retailing facilities and the product offering. Retail revenue is the largest source of non-aeronautical revenue at AdR, and further initiatives are planned to continue to improve the overall retail performance during the year."