Tourvest optimistic on British Mediterranean

Gavin Lipsith

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Tourvest Duty Free has secured the inflight retail contract on board the airline, which serves an interesting range of high-spending routes

Tourvest Duty Free has gained the inflight retail contract onboard British Mediterranean Airways (BMed), previously operated by British Airways’ inflight retail division. The contract started last month and Tourvest Duty Free CEO Ian Hay told RavenFox.com he was delighted with the gain.

The airline serves several routes with high-spending passenger profiles, including routes to the former Commonwealth of Independent States countries, the near Middle East, and north and west Africa.

Hay said: “The contract is exciting because these are routes where people are likely to spend a lot on duty-free and there is potential to drive spend up. We will have to work to understand the passenger profile at it is not as clear as on other airlines because of the disparity of routes it serves, but we will crack that code.”

BMed decided to negotiate with Tourvest after a review of its operations. Hay said that the company, which cooperates with British Airways on marketing, “decided it wanted more control of its own destiny”.

Tourvest Duty Free was acknowledged as the “star performer” of Tourvest’s retail merchandising division in the group’s recent annual report. The inflight retailer’s operating profit for the financial year 2005-6 grew by more than 90%.

Read more about Tourvest in TRI November/December, out soon.