56 / AIRPORTS AND AIRLINES
The race for retail Julie Baxter asks if airports and airlines investing in retail technology, and the opportunities it brings, are missing a trick by failing to collaborate…
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ravel retail is on the up as both airports and airlines race to roll out tech innovations to meet passenger expectations that food, beverage and retail will be offered digitally. Enhanced platforms have been launched to improve the passenger experience and build ancillary sales but airlines and airports are in the strange position of collaborating on huge parts of the passenger’s journey, while at the same time competing for the same passenger’s retail spend. Early access to the passengers’ data clearly gives airlines an advantage but airports have real estate – eons of space – much better suited to the presentation and storage of retail product
than an aircraft. It provides opportunities to supply many more services too. Among those seeing the benefits of tech innovation is Fraport, owner of Germany's largest airport, which works with Omnevo for an omnichannel e-commerce solution at Frankfurt Airport. Their cloud-based digital airport marketplace proved its value by generating digital sales during the COVID shut down. More recently, Zurich Airport also began working with Omnevo to launch ZRH Comfort, an e-commerce transformation programme designed to build direct-to-customer business. Enhanced e-commerce offerings are being used as the first step towards a unified digital
onboardhospitality.com
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13/12/2023 09:03