Airport: Foodservice Flying High

 
More and more European airports are being transformed into shopping centres with connecting flights to the rest of the world. The reason: an ever-increasing number of passengers and ever-longer waiting times coupled with growing passenger expectations on F&B and shopping and entertainment facilities. International brand-name players have discovered the terminals and make orientation easier for international guests. Nevertheless, local players, who stand for the regional cuisine of the host country, also contribute to an airport’s gastronomic profile. Today, the right foodservice blend is an increasingly important aspect when it comes to planning a new terminal or extending existing ones.
 
Part 1 of our pan-European survey.
 

 
UK
 
For caterers at larger airports, simply staying abreast of high street foodservice and retail trends is no longer enough. Increasingly, operators need to exceed passenger expectations and design foodservice to give terminals a modern and more memorable personality as well as generate extra revenue.
 
Several factors influence this change:

• passengers, and people meeting passengers,are having to stay longer at terminals in response to security and other delays
• longer dwell times, aided by the indulgence factor associated with travel, make people more choosy, which in turn leads to a greater need to respond to consumer preoccupations, from healthier eating concerns to a desire for greater provenance in ingredients, coffee quality and wine choices.
• the massive increase in budget airline travel is not only turning a wider range of consumers into frequent terminal users. Passengers who have saved on their tickets may be more prone to treat themselves at the airport, especially if onboard choices are limited or charged for.
• large numbers of passengers travel alone (an estimated 70-75%, according to forecasts for London Heathrow’s big new Terminal 5). Their perception of comfort and personal space is vital in designing refreshment facilities

London Heathrow, 24 km to the west of London, is the UK’s largest airport and has recently attracted more adverse attention than almost any other major transport hub. The causes of heavily publicised public discontent have ranged from security delays, overcrowded terminals and lost luggage to disturbance to local residents and activist attention related to global warming.
 

 
One over-riding issue is, however, shortly due to be resolved: the need to handle 67 m passengers annually through four terminals with a design capacity closer to 40 m. Salvation for the overstretched facilities of the airport’s three older terminals is at last imminent in the shape of the 30 m-per-year capacity Terminal 5. Due to open in March 2008 at a cost estimated at GBP4.2 bn, it will be in an iconic new building – largest single-span structure in the UK – designed by the Richard Rogers architectural practice.
 

 
Part 2: Pre-flight Eatertainment and Food-to-Fly
 

 
The foodservice business at airports is changing: at many terminals more and more space for shops, bars, cafés and restaurants is needed because, as at train stations, the consumer behaviour displayed by travellers has altered significantly in recent years. However, since there is no universally valid recipe for how F&B at an airport should ideally be organised, Europe’s major transportation hubs each are pursuing their individual well-balanced mixture of global, national and regional concepts. In any case, the diverse requirements of customers, who come from all over the world, need to be reflected in the different ranges of food, which are systematically revised and optimised. Part II of our pan-European survey.
 

 

 
Switzerland
 
Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) has been operating Zurich Airport in Kloten, a suburb of Zurich, for eight years. In 2006, a total of 19.2 m passengers used the airport, an increase of 7.6% and another significant jump over the previous year (2005 vs. ‘04: + 4.5%). By far the biggest airport in Switzerland, Zurich Airport holds 18th place in the latest ranking of major European airports. Additionally, it is home to 270 companies employing almost 21,000 people, making the airport not only a gateway to the world but also an economic driving force for the region. Unique alone employs a good 1,500 people and rang up a turnover of CHF737.1 m last year.
 

 
Strategically, the company, which has, incidentally, just received the renowned World Travel Award as Europe’s leading airport in terms of user friendliness and quality standards for the fourth time running, has always banked on the uncompromising expansion of the non-aviation side of the business. Not just with regard to retail and foodservice facilities for the travelling public: projects such as the Airport Shopping Center in the Railway Terminal, the Alpenrock House music & dance restaurant & bar, a highly successful concept dating back to the nineties, and the current emphasis on the airport as an event location are aimed primarily at local target groups.
 

 
Read in the full article more about the following countries:
 
Part 1 - UK/Ireland, Germany, Italy and Sweden
 
Part 2 - Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Russia and USA
 

 
| 15 October 2007 |