POLAND. Polish Airports (PPL), the state-owned operator of Warsaw Chopin Airport, has released two tenders for commercial space covering a total of 3,066sq m. The new leasing opportunities are located in the CDE zone of Terminal A.
The tender documents note that PPL will offer one area covering 1,164sq m and another of 1,902sq m. The bid deadlines are 16 and 20 June respectively, PPL noted.
The first lot consists of ten outlets. This includes a series of core category duty free stores ranging in size from 89sq m to 221sq m. Further small outlets will also feature the core range of duty free categories, and one will house a smoking lounge for passengers.
About 140sq m is allocated to sell food, hot and cold beverages, sweets, fast food, liquor & tobacco, public transport tickets, telephone cards, press and paper products.
A 54sq m outlet will also sell toys and maps, while a 78sq m store will offer the travel essentials products noted above as well as eyewear, clothes, music and films, games and watches.
Within the second lot, some 1,727 sq m is to be allocated to duty free products. A further 175sq m is to be allocated to “other types of products, souvenirs, jewellery, travel equipment, eyewear, clothes, etc.”, according to the documentation.
Bright future: Warsaw Chopin Airport is expected to handle 14 million passengers in 2017
PPL spokesperson Cezary Pytlos told The Moodie Davitt Report that the leases feature a mix of new spaces and spaces that were previously constructed, but that did not serve any commercial purpose previously.
In a statement, PPL Sales Director Grzegorz Michorek said that the new retail areas should improve the product range at the airport.
“We have clearly defined our concepts, which [broaden] the available product range, increasing the quality of the offer and adapting it to the changing profile of passenger traffic, including the rising share of transfer passengers,” Michorek said. “The two processes are scheduled to be completed [by] the third and fourth quarter of 2017.”
Warsaw airport handles close to 38% of Poland’s passenger air traffic, with some 12.8 million passengers reported last year. For 2017, PPL forecasts around 14 million passengers. The positive growth trend has allowed PPL to post improved financial results, with a net profit of about PLN200 million (€47.8 million) last year, a robust increase of +42% compared with a year earlier, according to figures from the company.
Lagardère Travel Retail is the main retail concessionaire at Warsaw Airport.