AAI Plans Retail outlets at Chennai airport by year-end

Airports Authority of India is planning to appoint a professional agency to set up new retail outlets at Chennai airport for enhanced shopping experience while waiting for their flights. The new shops are expected to come up by the end of the year.

A tender to identify a firm, which will be in charge of setting up the best of brands for seven years, has been floated. The process is on but the bid opening date will be postponed by a couple of weeks because of a glitch in the online process. “The request for proposal will be uploaded again with revised dates soon,” said an official.

Around 1,228 square metre in the international and the domestic terminals have been allotted for setting up the retail units. These include shops for apparel, gifts, books, jewellery, personal care and cosmetics, medicines, electronics, footwear and packaged food and beverages.

The international terminals have been allotted the maximum space, 720square metre. The domestic terminals will have 503.93square metre space for retail.

The shops will be set up as per the new retail policy of the authority aimed at making them more passenger-friendly and vibrant. Though the attempt may offer a better retail experience for passengers, it may not match the manner in which retail or commercial ventures are tapped by airports abroad.

A senior official of AAI said the highest bidder would get the contract. The current shops which are run by old contractors, which are under the extension, were set up through individual contracts. Space has been allotted to each one of them by AAI staffers. This has led to complaints that the retail shops are not attractive enough for the passengers.