Lagardère Travel Retail has welcomed passengers into the new Aelia Duty Free shopping areas at Cairns Airport, Australia.
Travelers passing through the T1 international terminal will have the opportunity to experience Aelia Duty Free at both arrivals and departures; it will offer both global and local brands.
Lagardère Travel Retail was recently awarded the operating rights to duty-free and specialty stores at Cairns for the next 10 years. It plans to reinforce its strategic plan of operating three business units in one location – duty-free and fashion, travel essentials and food services.
Fiona Ward, general manager of commercial at Cairns Airport, said, “The Lagardère team were simply exceptional in their well-executed overnight transformation of the duty-free stores to their Aelia brand. They brought in an army of over 100 people including CEO Matthieu Mercier, to move and unpack several thousand items of stock.”
“I am confident Aelia Duty Free will introduce a high-quality and broad-ranging product offer that meets the demand for exceptional value and accessible indulgence presented by Cairns Airport’s unique customer mix.”
Mercier commented, “We are delighted to be extending our duty-free presence to this part of the Pacific region.
“Cairns Airport has been a valued partner of ours for 25 years, and we are very pleased to expand on our enduring partnership. We will continue to work together to deliver outstanding customer service and develop our stores so every international passenger through Cairns Airport receives a world class experience.
“The level of detail in the preparation, organization and coordination of this project has allowed an incredibly smooth transition for Aelia Duty Free to open and we are very excited to unveil Aelia Duty Free at Cairns Airport. We believe it can exceed the expectations of both the terminal and passengers”.
Aelia Duty Free offers a range of brands including Chanel, Dior, Apple, Bose and Longines watches.
