Wellington welcomes Nuance amid major upgrade plans

Results of survey
A	39.1 %
B	6.3 %
C	25.0 %
D	9.4 %
E	10.9 %
F	9.4 %

Home

Gavin Lipsith

28-Apr-2006

Print Article

E-Mail Article

E-Mail Author

The airport has announced that Nuance's New Zealand subsidiary Regency Duty Free will be its new duty-free operator, subject to document signing

Wellington International airport has revealed that The Nuance Group subsidiary Regency Duty Free is set to become its new duty-free operator. The airport announced the decision, which is subject to the signing of final documents, as it unveiled detailed plans for its NZ$42m ($25.9m) international terminal upgrade.

The tender process launched last year to find a new operator had been put on hold as the New Zealand high court deliberated on an injunction requested by incumbent operator Duty Free Stores New Zealand, which claimed that plans for the tender winner to run stores at the airport alongside its own until 2009 made its business at the airport unviable. The complaint was dismissed, and Wellington media relations manager Louise Murray told DFNI Asia that the airport had waited until the end of the arbitration to announce upgrade plans.

"Duty-free is an essential part of the investment," she said, "which is why we needed to wait until a decision had been made before we could start working on plans with the preferred tenderer. We can announce that the Regency Duty Free is our preferred operator after the appeal to arbitration was unsuccessful. Regency have the lease document in final form and we are expecting the formal appointment to take place in the near future."

The first stage of work on the terminal is already under way and will include developing both departures and arrivals facilties in the international terminal. In departures the airport aims to improve the impact of the entrance to the area, to make more space for Customs to reduce processing time and to add an extra security screening point to minimise congestion. It will also begin renovating and expanding the duty-free shopping area in preparation for Regency Duty Free's entry to the airport in 2007.

In arrivals, the airport plans to add an extra baggage collection belt, double its Customs processing area and increase the number of X-ray machines. The improvements will double the airport's capacity to 1,000 passengers per hour.

The international terminal will also have a large number of aesthetic alterations, to give it a more spacious feel, said the airport. One wall of the international departure lounge will contain an aquatic tank, reflecting Wellington's coastal location.

"The new cutting-edge look and feel of Wellington airport is in keeping with its 'Wild at Heart' attitude and will greatly enhance the whole air travel experience," said airport CEO Simon Draper. "International passengers arriving and departing from Wellington airport will notice a huge difference in ease and speed of processing at both ends."

Bookmark This Article

• • • •

Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Facebook