CHINA. Xi’an Xianyang International Airport (XXIA) is rolling out a series of exciting enhancements to its retail and food & beverage offer, adding further lustre to its reputation as one of China’s most progressive airports, particularly in terms of consumer services.
Xi’an Xianyang International, the main airport serving the Shaanxi Province capital Xi’an, is the largest and busiest airport in China’s northwest and the eighth-busiest nationwide.
Chief Operations Officer and Member of the Board of Directors Wolfgang Weil told The Moodie Report that the bundle of initiatives include China’s first walk-through duty free store (operated by CDFG), to be housed in Xi’an Airport’s new global pier set to open in April this year.
“It was quite a tough undertaking to convince CDFG to go into a walkthrough layout for the first time in China but we were able to show them global research that showed that the walk-through format increases sales on average by +20-25%,” said Weil. “And we are glad that they finally joined us on our path of innovation at XXIA.”
The pier will also feature a central holding area surrounded by duty paid shops and food & beverage outlets. Its design and layout was done by The Design Solution, UK. “Due to the compact design of the entire facility it was possible to develop a concept that enables passengers to stay in the central commercial area up until 10 minutes before boarding starts,” said The Design Solution Founder & Director Robbie Gill.
“We are excited that we could blend the world’s best practices in operational and commercial concepts as well as layout and design into our new global pier,” added Weil.
“But we are also constantly upgrading our domestic offers,” he continued. “Currently we are adding three new luxury brands [MCM, Tommy Hilfiger and a children’s fashion store called Little Star – Ed] and a Pacific Coffee outlet in the core of our central commercial area of T3 in a joint project development with LS Travel Retail. The coffee outlet especially will function as an anchor and will increase dwell time in that important area.”