Hunting for Airport Revenue Optimization (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Applied Sciences Wildau (Wildau Institute of Technology), course: AVIMA 12 - Airport Management, language: English, abstract: The aim of this thesis is to investigate the latest challenges and trends in airport retail using the practical example of Copenhagen Airport. Driven by the steadily increasing cost pressure on European airports, operators need to develop new sources of revenue. The greatest po-tential in generating additional revenue to combine reasonable income with high profitability can be found in the non-aviation sector, particularly in the travel retail segment. The re-search, however, revealed that airport retail is not always a fast-selling item. The market experiences extensive challenges driven by advanced airline retail activities or online sales developments.
In order to face the recent challenges, the importance of commercial revenues for airport operators needs to be evaluated firstly. Moreover, characteristics and specialties of travel retail have to be analyzed. Based on that, the thesis explores some of the key factors, such as market trends, economical changes and technical developments, which are leading to an ever-challenging environment for airport retail managers. Finally, the research paper aims at elaborating resulting challenges and future opportunities by providing new ideas and solutions in optimizing airport retail for European airports in general and Copenhagen Airport in particular. To conclude the master's thesis, a summary is presented reviewing all findings.
The overall research results reveal that Copenhagen Airport's retail philosophy has adapted to the dynamic changes in the airport retail segment. However, there remains significant room for further improvement in order to combat future challenges on the travel retail mar-ket. Furthermore, my results and recommendations can be transferred to the benefit of other airport retail managements as well.