MIAL awards contract for duty free retail to Aldeasa ITDC JV

Mumbai, Feb 27 (UNI) Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL) has awarded the duty free retail contract for Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai, to the Aldeasa-ITDC joint venture.

During the three-year contract MIAL is expected to get a revenue of Rs 571 crore. Aldeasa-ITDC, which will start operating the new Duty Free area from June one, was chosen from among five shortlisted bidders, all leaders in the global duty free industry. The others included DFS Group, the Nuance Group AG-Shoppers Stop joint venture, the Alpha Airports-Future Group joint venture and the Dufry-Interglobe joint venture, a statement issued here today said.

Aldeasa, the lead member of the joint venture, is the fourth largest airport duty free retailer in the world with sales of over 600 million dollars in 2005.

Headquartered in Madrid, Spain, it has been in the duty free business for more than 30 years and operates 183 airport shops at 40 airports in 14 countries. The duty free division of ITDC operates from 10 airports in India.

Located in the international Terminal 2C at CSIA, the duty free shopping area will be spread across 24,541 sq ft. Of this, 14,585 sq ft will be at the departure level, 8,395 sq ft at the arrival level and 1,560 sq ft will be for storage.

Aldeasa-ITDC will be responsible for designing and building the shopping environment, sourcing a wide range of international luxury brands and developing a strong promotional strategy.

G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, MIAL said ''Our primary consideration in awarding the contract to Aldeasa-ITDC has been to provide an enjoyable and luxurious shopping environment to passengers where travelers will find great merchandise, attentive service and compelling prices. We are sure that Aldeasa-ITDC's global expertise in travel retailing will enable them to cater to the shopping interests of local and international travelers alike, and create a new standard in duty free shopping in India.'' In the new duty free experience at CSIA, passengers will have access to leading international brands from an extensive product range, the statement said.

UNI