AXiNsider by Airport Experience® News

Ep. 4 - Stu Holcombe, Managing Partner, Travel Retail Partners

Early in his career, Stu Holcombe convinced Jon Luther, then president of Delaware North Cos. subsidiary CA One Services, he could create a better portfolio of proprietary food and retail brands than existed at the time. That expanded to celebrity chef offerings and other advancements in airport food and retail. Later, he established his own company, LS Travel Retail, to help brands a pathway into airports. That segment is in transition now, with technology and passenger behaviors changing the way retail is done. 

Ep.3 - Candace McGraw, CEO, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

When Candace McGraw arrived at CVG, Delta Air Lines was dehubbing the airport. She focused on attracting new carriers, which reduced airfares, and creating a great customer experience through local food, art and retail. The airport’s regional economic impact has more than doubled in the time since. 

Ep. 2 - Ron Gomes, Retired Vice President of Strategic Alliances, HMSHost

The ACDBE program has created many opportunities for small women- and minority-owned businesses to participate at airports. But Ron Gomes says it needs to evolve, including providing incentives to grow rather than immediately graduating companies that get too large. It’s incumbent on the industry to work toward that, especially as the program faces uncertainty from recent Supreme Court rulings that could impact its future.

Oris Dunham, Managing Partner, Dunham Group, LLC

After watching the movie Airplane, Oris Dunham worked for free at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for 13 months to learn the industry. The multitude of tasks appealed to him, but concessions at the time were mundane and lacked variety. That has changed dramatically, with a focus on sense of place and tremendous design. Now, Dunham feels that airports may spend too much time creating on that sense of place at the expense of building capacity. He says international airports have overtaken those in the U.S., in many cases because governments have spent billions of dollars to build massive, fantastic buildings.

 

Ep. 123 - Khalia Moore, Senior Manager Airport Dining & Retail, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

A 10-year-old retail kiosk program aimed at providing opportunities for local small or ACDBE-certified retail business owners to test concepts at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is expanding, adding space for food and beverage operators to do the same. Those who pass through SEA’s introductory program, which is largely financed by the airport, can move on to the program’s intermediate level before each side decides whether to make a long-term commitment and investment. Two of the original participants – Seattle Chocolate and Planewear – have graduated to inline stores with full-length leases.

 

“This gives us an opportunity to change up the menus, to be able to offer potentially some more ethnic cuisines that really represent all the various ethnicities and diversity of the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest.”

Ep. 122 - Stewart Steeves, COO, Vantage Airport Group

“An airport shouldn’t be a generic institutional place. It should really reflect the spirit and the charms of the local community through its concessions, through its service offerings, through its artwork, through its architecture. That’s something we try to contribute to wherever we go.”

Vantage Airport Group has been involved in some of the most visible airport redevelopments in the U.S. in recent years. Along with its partners, it’s putting the finishing touches on the complete rebuild of LaGuardia Airport (LGA), leading the concessions overhaul at Midway International Airport (MDW) and taking on management of the new terminal being built at Kansas City International Airport (MCI). Each of these programs is mixing in high levels of local, minority- and women-owned concessions that represent the individual community. Stewart Steeves, COO, provides an update on those projects. 

Ep. 121 - Tim Harms, CEO, Enliven

“This isn’t lip service. We’re really interested in partnering with all parties and when we get engaged and we start our process, the first thing we want to do is sit down with everyone, get everyone’s interests and concerns on the table. We invite everyone to that conversation.” 

Enliven has pouring rights deals at four airports in the U.S. The company’s new CEO, Tim Harms, says several more airports have put into upcoming RFPs language opening the door to additional such deals. While pouring rights deals remain controversial among concessions operators, Harms says Enliven wants to work with them and all parties to ensure the deals increase sales and profits for each.

Ep. 120 - Daniel Robert Gooch, President and CEO, Canadian Airports Council

“It’s more than just funding. The crisis has endured longer in Canada than in the U.S. because you’ve had fewer restrictions and less traffic suppression, generally, as a result.”

Canadian airports have faced more restrictions and gotten less help from the federal government throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic. Those factors have led to a slower recovery – they were at about 40% of 2019 traffic in August system-wide -- and forced them to take on large amounts of debt just to maintain operations. While some relief has started flowing through the Canadian aviation system, Gooch says airports are worried they’re at a competitive disadvantage to airports in other countries, like the U.S., where relief has been more generous.

Ep. 119 - David Kasprak, Principal and Co-Founder, O’Kelly Kasprak

“We’re going to continue to see more pop-up retail that is a function of the ability to be flexible. … That flexibility is going to be something that continues to develop, much like you would find in the retail world outside of airports.” 

As operations return to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic, airports need to find ways for people to congregate differently than they have in the past. They are showing open-mindedness to change, from repurposing previously unused space, such as moving walkways, into long, narrow restaurant and retail space to increasing the availability lounges or flexible pop-up locations, they’re working with tenants to creatively use space. They’re also adding services and finding ways to become more environmentally pleasing and sustainable, in hopes of reducing stress and increasing traveler confidence.  

O’Kelly Kasprak is a full-service architecture, interior design and project management firm.

Ep. 118 - Todd Hauptli, President and CEO, American Association of Airport Executives

“Airports need to … tell their story, make sure their elected representatives understand what these local projects are in their communities, the jobs they create, the sustainability angle, the resiliency.” 

A coalition of aviation industry participants worked together with airport lobbying organizations to win $20 billion in relief funds from Congress. That’s likely the extent of what Congress will provide in relief. Now, industry leaders have turned their attention toward infrastructure funding. President Biden has proposed a $2.3 trillion bill and airports have significant needs, as they begin preparing for life after COVID-19. In addition to dealing with financial challenges, the American Association of Airport Executives has enlisted a growing group of airports, operators and other players to jump-start innovation through its Airport Consortium on Consumer Trust.