CYPRUS. The new Larnaka Zenon International Airport was officially opened yesterday amid scenes of intense national pride and excitement.
The €656 million facility was inaugurated by President Demetris Christofias. Operations will begin on Tuesday as business transfers from the old terminal nearby.
The new terminal includes some 6,000sq m of retail space (5,000sq m airside) and an extensive food & beverage offer (see pictures below).
President Demetris Christofias and wife Elsi celebrate the opening with children in national costume
Nicolas Shacolas, Founder and Chairman of Hermes Airport Ltd, speaking at the inauguration ceremony
Archbishop Chrysostomos blesses the new airport as part of the inauguration ceremony
A vibrant, at times poignant, ceremony included several outstanding musical performances
A group of local lacemakers showed off their age-old tradition for the President
Christofias was joined at the ceremony by his wife Elsi, and Nicolas Shacolas, Founder and Chairman of Hermes Airport Ltd, the consortium charged with developing and running the airport, along with other dignitaries. The event, attended by over 1,500 guests, was broadcast live on national television.
The President said: “Today constitutes a landmark not just in the history of Cypriot tourism but also of the overall development of the country’s infrastructure.
“With the launching of the new Larnaka Airport we acquire a project for which Cyprus can feel particularly proud.”
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The celebrations featured a dance theatre performance titled ‘Islanding’, written and performed especially for the opening ceremony by the internationally acclaimed Cypriot choreographer, Lia Charaki and the well-known composer, Kostas Kakoyiannis. The ceremony culminated with a performance by popular singer Nicolas Metaxas, who sang a song that he had written especially for the occasion.
After the formalities the President and fellow VIPs toured the terminal, including an extensive walk around its commercial offer.
The new airport is three times bigger than its predecessor and has a capacity of 7.5 million passengers per year.
Guests could savour local delicacies - literally a flavour of what is to come at the Kypriaka (goods from Cyprus) store
Managers and staff celebrate a landmark day for Cyprus - and for travel retail
Christmas is coming and the band (known apparently as 'Martin's gnomes') is set to play
This is what you call an ultra-premium Christmas tree - adorned with Swarovski decorations
Travellers are drawn to the retail offer even before they reach central security
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO RETAIL AND FOOD & BEVERAGE
The Moodie Report attended the opening after being given an extensive tour of the facilities by CTC-ARI Airports General Manager Danny Galvin and Aer Rianta International–Middle East Managing Director John Sutcliffe.
A proud ARI-ME Managing Director John Sutcliffe at the immigration counters of the new terminal: "A nice mix of retail combined with food & beverage in an atmosphere that encourages people to relax”
Sutcliffe told The Moodie Report: “It’s a very significant day for Aer Rianta International and specifically for Aer Rianta International–Middle East who are the investors in this project. We have a three-fold involvement in Cyprus. We are shareholders in the main airport concession group Hermes, which took on the concession from the government for 25 years and built two new terminals [Larnaka and Pafos, which opened last year].
“We’re also involved with our partners Cyprus Trading Corporation (CTC) on the duty free side – and the wonderful thing is that the duration is also for 25 years. And we also have our partnership with SSP and CTC on the food & beverage as well [under the Cyprus Airports Food & Beverage Company, managed by SSP.] So we’re effectively the master concessionaires for the airport.
“It’s a significant milestone for us. For Aer Rianta International–Middle East it’s our first major investment in an airport [as opposed to purely retail –Ed]. And the tenure of the contract gives great stability to our business going forward.”
Commenting on ARI-ME’s involvement in both retail and food & beverage, Sutcliffe said: “What you have is a very integrated approach in terms of the commercial offer available to the passengers, where we have a nice mix of retail combined with food & beverage in an atmosphere that encourages people to relax.”
He continued: “We’ve taken very significant cognisance of our passenger profile, both today and going forward. Obviously there’s a huge and important Greek Cypriot background and culture, and we wanted to create a Sense of Place as we always do.
“We’ve done that not only in the general design but in some of the shops such as the Kypriaka – which means goods from Cyprus – store and which is something we really want to develop.
The Moodie View at the new Larnaka Zenon International Airport (Part 1)
(From left): Kevin Farrow, ARI-ME Retail Consultant; Danny Galvin, CTC-ARI Airports General Manager; Nicholas Palmer, CTC-ARI Airports Project Development Manager; Martin Mullen, CTC-ARI Airports Head of Retail and Marketing
John Sutcliffe is interviewed on camera by Peter Marshall of Marshall Arts International in the Kypriaka store
A vintage moment for ARI Director General Eamon Foley and CTC-ARI Airports Chairman Marios Loucaides
Long-serving Operations Manager Costakis Koukkoullis with The Moodie Report Publisher Martin Moodie
(From left): Kevin Farrow, ARI-ME Retail Consultant; Danny Galvin, CTC-ARI Airports General Manager; Nicholas Palmer, CTC-ARI Airports Project Development Manager; Tracy Ross, ARI-ME Projects & Design Manager; George Louca – Finance Manager CTC-ARI Airports; Gerry Crawford, former CTC-ARI Airports General Manager, now DAA Head of Retail
A Sense of Place: Kypriaka Duty Manager (Chris Pavildes) and supervisors (Loukia Ashoti and Elena Kousari) can offer a wide range of quality destination merchanise from Cyprus (below), ranging from intricate lace work, silver-plated gifts and local art and sculpture to wines, foodstuffs, oils, souvenirs and clothing
“Secondly we had to recognise the tourist aspect of this island. It’s a major ‘sun and sand’ destination and we didn’t want therefore to be too formal. So we’ve created a huge amount of colour. And in the summer months especially we’ve created facilities inside the shops to have live entertainment.
"So for people who have had their two or three weeks in the sun and are headed home... it will be nice to get to the airport and feel their holiday isn’t over. Those were the key elements behind the design and the plan.”
The Moodie View at the new Larnaka Zenon International Airport (Part 2)
The retail offer also includes a new (for Cyprus) focus on high-end products, notably watches, to cater for the important and usually high-spending Russian passengers.
CTC Managing Director and CTC-ARI Chairman Marios Loucaides told The Moodie Report: “We believe the new terminal opens a new era for flying in Cyprus.
Martin Mullen, CTC-ARI Airports Head of Retail and Marketing, with Duty Manager Eliana Georgiou, who has given outstanding service at the airport shops for 32 years
“It’s an exciting concept with very exciting retail and food & beverage offers integrated together. We’re all very excited by it and look forward to better business and to offering a better product for our consumers."
CTC-ARI Airports General Manager Danny Galvin said: “We’ve managed to open on time and on budget probably one of the most spectacular shops I’ve seen – and I’ve worked at and been to a lot of airports. The sheer scale of it is amazing and the reaction of everyone who sees it for the first time is very, very positive.
“Our mix is based on our passenger profile – we’ve a very strong local Cypriot market and the retail offer we have is on a par with the best of the local market. We see huge potential with the new brands we have brought in which are now unique to Cyprus – especially some of the skincare and cosmetics brands.
“We also have a range of fashion which again offers many firsts for Cyprus. And within each category we’re hitting every price point so that every passenger that comes in will have something they want to buy, we hope.”
[Look out for an extensive report on the CTC-ARI Airports commercial offer in a special edition of The Moodie Report PLUS – our PDF format series dedicated to the industry’s biggest openings – coming soon.]
COMMENT: Prepare to be surprised. If you’re expecting to see a modern but workmanlike regional airport retail offer, throw away your preconceptions.
This is unquestionably one of the most vibrant, diverse and colourful new travel retail environments that The Moodie Report has witnessed in recent years – and we have attended the majority of major terminal and store openings around the world.
Larnaka is a relatively small airport – even the new terminal only has a capacity of 7.5 million passengers – but there’s nothing small about either the physical dimensions of the retail and food & beverage offer, or the vision that underpins it.
In fact – as our images show – this offer is of a quality and scale that one would expect to find in a leading international hub airport.
We particularly like the elegant, multi-coloured fascia (created by Portland Design) that runs around and within the stores, changing colour according to category. Based on the silk lace that Cyprus is so synonymous with, it lends a subtle yet vibrant, sophisticated yet happy effect to the whole environment.
The sight lines – other than the confectionery area which is being tweaked to eliminate some clutter – are excellent and the quality of merchandising generally very high. ‘Something for everyone’ is one of the tag lines used by CTC-ARI Airports and the company has been true to its philosophy.
Montblanc is one of the many big names to make its travel retail debut in Cyprus at the new terminal
Upscale jewellery from Damiani near the front of the store helps set the tone
High-end watches (above and below) are positioned right at the front of the store to make a clear quality statement
The offer then broadens into premium, mid-price and fashion watches
Fast-growing jewellery house Pandora, said to be the biggest-selling silver jewellery brand in the UK and therefore perfect for the Larnaka Zenon International Airport passenger profile, makes its travel retail debut in Cyprus
Sekonda, targeted at the British traveller, enjoys its own stand-alone space
Swarovski, as always, adds a sense of lustre to the retail mix
Resurgent luxury leather and accessories brand MCM is one of the lead names in a powerful fashion offer
There’s a nice mix of the high end (the store opens with an upscale watches offer), the local (the destination merchandise offer, still work in progress, is already impressive; so is the wine selection, pictured below) and the new (Kiehl’s make its debut here in stunning fashion).
Wines from Cyprus and from the world (below) are nicely displayed in the Kelari wine cellar
Maybe the single highlight though is the Uisge Beatha boutique (below) – a thrilling concept dedicated to showcasing malt whisky. This same concept won a Frontier Award in 2007 and it’s easy to understand why, given its unique combination of excellence, execution and education.
Uisge Beatha, CTC-ARI Airport's superb, award-winning malt whisky boutique concept is brought thrillingly to life
(Left to right) Staff members George Panayides, Eleni and Alla with William Grant & Sons' Michel Abou Jawdeh
George Panayides, Uisge Beatha Consultant, pours Martin Moodie a dram of Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15yo
The cigarettes offer is aimed largely at the British passenger - critical to travel retail in Cyprus
The spirits department features a strong mainstream selection, complemented by super-premium and ultra-premium areas
Beauty has been majored on and a number of the big brands – La Mer, Chanel, Dior, MAC and Chanel most memorably – have arrived in style.
It’s an unpredictable duty free store – no accusations of sameness can be levelled here. Liquor and tobacco are, unusually, tucked in behind toys and confectionery. Even perfumes & cosmetics (the lead category with some 37-38% of sales) is not at the front of the store, to avoid a formulaic approach and to help ensure travellers explore other categories. And there are lots of ways into and out of the various departments. The evolution of the customer flow is going to be interesting to watch.
A brilliantly colourful children's products area leads into the confectionery zone
The confectionery area is alive with colour and fun, epitomised here by M&M's
Apart from reservations over the confectionery area (which, despite some soon to be addressed height problems with some of the fixtures, is brilliantly vibrant), I noted a lack of both category and gate signage which may need fixing. There’s a lot of fashion on offer for such a small airport – and one with a very high percentage of core-category focused British travellers. Will it work? It's too early to say but it certainly won’t fail for lack of ambition, range or space.
Larnaka’s travel retail template – 21st century style
Leave me in the Kypriaka destination merchandise area and I’ll be a content and better-educated man
It was too early to judge the food & beverage offer on my visit as none of the outlets were in trading mode (whereas the stores were almost fully stocked). But certainly the mix is again packed with diversity and a wide-ranging offer in terms of both price and cuisine.
Overall this is a big, ambitious commercial environment, the end product of an astute vision, great brand support, top-quality design (Portland) and shop-fitting (Umdasch, especially, which handled around 70% of the total shopfittings, and other companies such as MOprojects to the fore in P&C) and a great team effort by CTC-ARI to get it open and looking so good on time.
John Sutcliffe commented on the heavy investment the company has made in the facility. That was very largely driven by the unusually long contract duration, he said. Isn’t there a lesson there to some of the biggest airports in the world that persist with short-term contracts with modest optional extensions? There’s no question who is the biggest winner at Larnaka – the consumer.
At an informal dinner on Friday night attended by CTC-ARI and ARI representatives, Marios Loucaides raised a toast to a unique Cypriot-Irish partnership. The pride so well expressed by President Christofias has truly been echoed in that partnership and in the retail offer at the new terminal.
Beauty is the key category at the new terminal. Note the beautiful lacework-style pattern of the fascia that runs around the walls and along the ceilings of the various areas - lending a Sense of Place and holding the various departments together
Bobbi Brown makes its debut at Larnaka with this attractive stand-alone presence
Chanel enjoys a powerful position - and stunning visibility - at the front of the beauty department
The Kiehl's boutique, with its trademark brick wall, is one of the highlights of the whole retail complex
Powerhouse brand Estée Lauder is to the fore, alongside a number of brands from the US beauty giant
Ultra-premium Swiss skincare brand La Prairie is another example of the retailer's upscale focus
L’Oréal Produits de Luxe International is out in force with its star-studded portfolio....
... as is sister house L’Oréal Paris
... and the French group's recent acquisition YSL (above and below)
One of several high-profile promotion areas spread throughout the retail area
Dear Martin, I very much appreciated the depth and breadth of the coverage of this new airport opening. The photographs of the displays helped bring your words to even greater visibility and life - and the deails within the story helped the reader understand the significance of this event. Thank you.
Dr. Patricia Ryan
SINGLE MALT PROMOTER Larnaka Zenon International Airport
MR. MOODIE WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU. I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
GEORGE PANAYIDES
Keel Toys
Fabulous report, having travelled to Larnaca (the original home of my father) over many years to visit my relatives, it is wonderful to see that the advent of Larnaca Zenon has been illustrated in such a comprehensive manner by the use of so many clear images. A picture once again outpunching a thousand words. I can't wait for my next visit to the old country.
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Larnaka airport opening
Dear Martin, I very much appreciated the depth and breadth of the coverage of this new airport opening. The photographs of the displays helped bring your words to even greater visibility and life - and the deails within the story helped the reader understand the significance of this event. Thank you.
SINGLE MALT PROMOTER Larnaka Zenon International Airport
MR. MOODIE WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU. I HOPE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
Keel Toys
Fabulous report, having travelled to Larnaca (the original home of my father) over many years to visit my relatives, it is wonderful to see that the advent of Larnaca Zenon has been illustrated in such a comprehensive manner by the use of so many clear images. A picture once again outpunching a thousand words. I can't wait for my next visit to the old country.