IAADFS, the International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores, has written to its airport partners across the USA, asking them to suspend guarantee payments from duty-free and travel retail stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Writing to airports, IAADFS president and CEO Michael Payne requested the suspension of guarantee payments that are predicated on specific minimum passenger numbers.
Payne wrote, “Clearly, these are historic and unprecedented times during which we need to come together as a global business community to address the rapid decrease in passenger retail traffic that is the lifeblood of both the airports’ and Duty Free operators’ businesses. There are thousands of jobs at stake, including the solvency of your important Duty Free business partners.
“We look forward to tackling this problem together and know that our airport and travel retail community will rise to this challenge, engage with all our members and adopt whatever measures are necessary to secure the long-term success of our airports and the duty free and travel retail industry.”
