TheMoodieReport.com

TheMoodieReport.com: "Manchester T2 presents the ultimate in Alpha�s �joined-up thinking� � 21/12/05
Source: �The Moodie Report
By Martin Moodie; Story treatment by Salina Christmas
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'Dwell time is the real driver of this business. If you don�t get joined-up thinking from the time the passenger arrives at the airport to the time they leave, you simply won�t succeed.'

Alpha Airports Group Executive Director David King believes that maximising the airside minutes in an airport is key to pushing up revenues.
Photo by Salina Christmas
UK. David King talks a lot about �joined-up thinking�. The Alpha Airports Group Executive Director and driving force behind its UK and international retail business is adamant that airports and concessionaires have to work much more closely in targeting consumers at every point of their airport experience.

�Dwell time is the real driver of this business,� he notes. �If you don�t get joined-up thinking from the time the passenger arrives at the airport to the time they leave, you simply won�t succeed. We are a second-tier service for consumers, selling non-essentials if you like. The first tier includes things like a CTN, a Boots store, foreign exchange, coffee shops and so on. I don�t sell anything they need to buy, I sell everything they want or desire or would like to gift, so we're an emotional buy.

�So maximising those minutes in an airport is absolutely key. We have to work with airports to the absolute limit in optimising dwell time � it�s crucial.�

But he gives short shrift to theories held in some quarters of the industry that concessionaires have an ever-lessening relevance in the modern airport world. In fact, he argues, they�re more important than "