Duty-free shops hit by departure of foreign airlines during downturn

Calcutta: Duty-free shopping at Calcutta airport has been grounded with several international airlines taking flight just a year after two stores brought Dior and Davidoff to town without any tax baggage.
“Stores across all airports have suffered a 20-25 per cent decline in sales because of the global downturn. Our Calcutta unit has taken a bigger hit — around 30 per cent,” said P.K. Thimmayya, the vice-president of Dubai-based Flemingo International that runs two duty-free stores at the city airport.
Gulf Air and British Airways flew out last month and a couple of airlines that were to start flights have postponed their plans. For Flemingo, which opened shop in the city in March 2008, that has been a bigger blow than the downturn. “Where are the passengers? We can do decent business only if international traffic is high. In Calcutta, traffic is declining,” said an official.
The company recently approached the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a “concession” on rent and a deferred payment schedule to tide over the crisis. It presently occupies 1,300sq ft of space in the departure and arrival lounges and another 300sq ft for storage.
“We have been receiving similar requests from other stores at the airport. These have been forwarded to our headquarters in Delhi,” airport director V.K. Monga told Metro.
Although sales are down, Flemingo hasn’t yet cut down on the number of brands. From premium perfumes and jewellery to single malts, the brand basket at Calcutta airport is the biggest and brightest in years.
08/04/09 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Apr 2009