Shops at Prague Airport will become more expensive. They expect double passengers. They are mainly looking for foreigners
The pandemic grounded the entire fleet of aircraft and with them found non-aviation business – restaurants and souvenir shops. The mass of almost eighteen million passengers handled in 2019 shrunk to just 3.7 million in the first “covid” year – at least in a quarter of a century. Last year did not bring any significant improvements, the number of check-in at Václav Havel Airport increased by only about three quarters of a million, they informed Message list.
The painfully expensive wait for a larger clientele is due to end this year. Both airports and merchants believe they have doubled their growth to 8.6 million passengers, based on the same forecast as previously provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“With this, we also expect a doubling of turnover compared to last year,” Richard Procházka, CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail, which is the largest operator of commercial premises at Ruzyně Airport, told E15. While in 2019 the group earned almost 1.9 billion crowns in the duty free shops there, last year it achieved “only” 360 million turnover and last year 410 million. If this year brought the coveted restart at the expected double rate, it would mean a turnover of more than eight million for the group.
There will be more passengers willing to spend at the airport
During the pandemic, a third of the employees had to leave Lagardère airport shops, most of whom were laid off. In anticipation of a significantly better year, the company is now preparing to recruit dozens of reinforcements, but also to increase prices. It thus responds not only to higher costs, but also to the predicted change in the composition of passengers. There will be more foreign tourists, the willingness to pay extra for lunch or souvenirs exceeds the willingness of Czech travelers, even by a sausage – or rather by a jumbo.
“Increased costs resulting from rising energy, product and labor prices will be gradually and selectively reflected in sales prices. On average, we expect them to increase by two percent, “he told the E15 Procházka daily.
Passengers will be able to find an increase of less than ten percent, for example, in the Pilsner Urquell airport restaurants, which fall under Lagardère. Prior to the pandemic, restaurants had sales of about 80 million, but have dropped by 80 percent in the last two years. “This year we could reach half of the original turnover,” said airport restaurant manager Jan Kosan.
Travel insurance: What to look out for?
Every beer must undergo an X-ray
The traditionally higher prices of products and services at the airport are explained, among other things, by higher security requirements for a typical airport. “For example, we need to x-ray every beer we sell in the non-public area. That’s all the manual work someone has to do. That also speaks to the prices, “Kosan explained.
Due to the loss of passengers, the restaurants had to leave two dozen employees, two-thirds of all. Now the situation is changing. “We are starting to recruit from February to be ready for the season in mid-April,” Kosan added. With the spring, the shops will also change the range on offer, and souvenirs made of wood or glass will be added.
“An interesting novelty for the summer will be the new store at Terminal 2 in sustainable fashion and sustainable cosmetics from Czech manufacturers,” added Procházka, adding that Lagardère had already completed a quarter-billion investment in all 25 new stores at the airport.
The airport itself is also waiting for a substantial increase in revenues from the non-aviation business, which are usually in the order of billions of crowns. “We are also aiming to increase the ratio of revenues from non-aviation trade versus from aviation trade,” said spokeswoman Klára Divíšková.
Despite the rapid decline in the number of passengers and thus sales, there is no decrease in the number of merchants who operate at the airport and pay rent. “Even in the second year of the pandemic, we managed to maintain most of the leases with tenants of commercial premises. In the same way, the renewal of tenancy relations with the tenants of Starbucks and Bill, the tender for the vending machines and the provision of luggage packing services, for example, is currently culminating, ”added Divíšková. It is also planned to announce a tender for the operators of cafes, ATMs and taxi services, which are still provided by Taxi Prague and FIX.
A billion passengers will be added to the sector
Demand for international air travel is set to double this year to 44 percent from 2019, IATA said earlier. 1.1 billion passengers are expected to be added to the aircraft, reducing the net loss of airlines from $ 52 billion to about twelve billion. Between 2020 and 2022, airlines will spend – according to IATA – $ 201 billion. Smartwings, one of the most important airlines at Prague Airport, recently announced that it had lost 2.5 billion crowns in the first pandemic year 2020.