{"id":4208,"date":"2020-08-20T13:54:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T11:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=4208"},"modified":"2020-09-02T20:03:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T18:03:53","slug":"everything-a-passenger-could-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/everything-a-passenger-could-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything a passenger could need"},"content":{"rendered":"
Airport shops and restaurants play an important role in providing passengers with everything to meet their basic needs. A varied and large offering, with properly designed and attractive spaces, will make the overall passenger experience more pleasant, which will increase passenger spending and consequently, the airport will see an increase in revenue. Careful planning is required to achieve these objectives.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Ineco completed a commercial plan for Vilnius International Airport, demonstrating the company\u2019s extensive experience in the development of commercial spaces in airports, the result of almost two decades of collaboration with the airport manager Aena, and other projects carried out at the Luanda and El Salvador international airports, among others.<\/p>\n
The work was developed in three phases, starting with the analysis of the characteristics of the airport such as its passenger profile and an analysis of the existing commercial offering and an initial proposal for commercial sizing. In the next stage, different proposals for the distribution of spaces and the recommended commercial mix were drawn up. All of this ensures compliance with IATA technical recommendations, especially with respect to spaces in boarding lounges. Lastly, the general guidelines for functional interior design and the homogeneous and attractive fa\u00e7ade design were presented, along with the general technical requirements for supplies and services. At this stage, a detailed business plan was presented for each of the commercial premises, including calculations of the necessary investments, operating costs, expected revenues and returns, as well as a proposal for fees and concession periods.<\/p>\n
Vilnius International Airport, managed by the state-owned Lithuanian Airports, is the country\u2019s busiest airport. In 2019, it surpassed 5 million passengers and has experienced significant growth in recent years. The terminal is the product of three distinct architectural stages (1954, 1987 and 2007). According to the analysis performed, the three buildings are well integrated architecturally, with a bright interior space and high ceilings. The biggest problem detected was congestion, which is why a third expansion will be carried out in an annexed area, called T4, where the check-in and security processes will be carried out in the future, leaving the entire area of the existing terminal for boarding.<\/p>\n
The existing commercial area totals about Ineco\u00a0designed the most\u00a0suitable\u00a0layout and commercial\u00a0mix for the\u00a0enlargement\u00a0and remodeling\u00a0of Vilnius\u00a0airport<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the second stage of development of the commercial plan, Ineco\u2019s team prepared a design of the distribution of the different spaces or layout, with several alternatives, and a proposal of the most suitable and balanced set of business lines for Vilnius airport, known as the commercial mix. This was done based on the walk-through duty-free\u00a0 stores in Dubai, Sydney, Madrid or Barcelona, among others, and the latest trends in retail and F&B (Food & Beverage) areas at reference airports in European cities such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London, and other nearby cities with similar culture such as Copenhagen, Riga or Tallinn. The commercial offering of the city of Vilnius was also studied, where the sale of one of the most typical national products of Lithuania \u2013amber\u2013 stands out.<\/p>\n The walk-through store concept has spread to airports around the world and is considered the most commercially effective design. Nowadays, at the Vilnius airport, there is already a quite new and modern duty free walk-through shop, although an inevitable flow split occurs there, which, together with the small size, limits its potential. The proposal is therefore to improve the location and size of the shopping area, increasing it to around 1,500 m2<\/sup>. The existing retail offering in Vilnius is minimal, so the proposal is to improve it in terms of variety to enhance the shopping experience. In addition, updating to follow some of the latest trends is also recommended, such as speciality retail shops that encourage shopping by offering a distinctive product: the Ferrari shops in Italian airports, the tulip store at Schiphol or the gold jewellery store in Dubai, for example.<\/p>\n As far as F&B areas are concerned, increasing the passenger\u2019s \u2018perception of choice\u2019 is also recommended, since the larger the perceived variety, the greater their satisfaction and therefore the more they will end up spending. Recent restaurant trends that have been studied at major European airports include food trucks, \u2018local flavours\u2019 (branches of popular local restaurants), \u2018farmer\u2019s markets\u2019 for local and seasonal products, to-go gourmet meals for in-the-air consumption (grab&go), celebrity chef restaurants, high-tech restaurants equipped with tablets for business passengers, pop-up restaurants and sports bars. There is also a trend towards food-courts, common areas shared between several nearby F&B points, which enhances the perception of variety, especially in terminals with limited space as is the case in Vilnius.<\/p>\n
\n3,600 m2<\/sup>, which is equivalent to about 724 m\u00b2 per million passengers. The airside\/groundside distribution is 79%-21%, which is considered adequate and within the reference values. This is because passengers spend more time airside. Architectural constraints determine where the passenger flow, which has been studied in detail, will move since this defines the layout of available offerings. In this initial stage, Ineco\u2019s consulting team also analysed the airport\u2019s operational and socio-demographic profile, the concessionaires and the passengers, 40% of whom travel for leisure, which means that, unlike business passengers, they arrive at the airport earlier and spend more time there. Another factor analysed in phase one of the plan was the sizing of the commercial area of Vilnius airport, calculating the square metres of commercial space per million passengers.<\/p>\nLocation is (almost) everything<\/h4>\n