Shock win for Grupo Wisa at Mexico City terminal two

John Gallagher

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Grupo Wisa has beaten competition from Dufry Group, Latinoamericana de Duty Free and Aldeasa to win the duty-free contract at Mexico City T2

Panama-based Grupo Wisa has fought off strong competition to win the tender to operate the duty-free concession at Mexico City airport’s new $800m terminal two, due to open later this year.

Grupo Wisa commercial director Marcelo Montico told RavenFox.com: “I am pleased to confirm that we have won the tender to operate two blocks of retail outlets totalling just over 1,200 sq m (1,291sq ft) at the new terminal in Mexico City. This is great news for us and comes shortly after our success at our home airport at Tocumen. We hope to announce full plans to our supplier partners over the next few weeks, but we are convinced that the new operation in Mexico will be a great success.”

The invitation-only tender was called early this year but was postponed in the spring when the airport authority received complaints about the commercial layout from some of the retail operators. The tender was reconvened at the end of last month with bids being opened on June 22.

Wisa beat rivals from Dufry Group and Latinoamericana de Duty Free, both of which operate at T1, and Aldeasa, which operates at Cancún International airport.

About 35% of the airport’s 24.7m passengers will be diverted to the new 229,000sq m (2.46m sq ft) terminal and the airport managers claim that the new space will enable the airport to welcome 32m passengers.