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TheMoodieReport.com: Mark Riches welcomes overnight improvements in UK terror alert – ‘almost business as normal’ – but calls for lessons to be learned – 14/08/06
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Martin Moodie
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Mark Riches: "We’re where we want to be without compromising in any way the security and safety of our passengers”
UK. World Duty Free Managing Director Mark Riches has welcomed the dramatic overnight news that the UK terror alert has been downgraded from ‘critical’ to ‘severe’. As a result of that, the Department of Transport has eased hand baggage restrictions on flights out of the UK, though certain limitations (click here for details) still apply to US-bound flights.

BAA said overnight through the media that it will need to phase in the changes and will not be implementing the new rules on hand luggage at its seven airports until Tuesday morning.

En route to his office this morning Riches told The Moodie Report: “There is progress, yes. And some clarity is emerging about the situation with hand baggage. But there is still some confusion about the landside search situation and what they can buy on the other side.”

But Riches had a simple message for the trade and for travellers in terms of duty free purchasing – “unless you’re travelling to the US it’s business as normal”.

One frustration, though Riches declined to comment, is that some airlines (not just in the UK but elsewhere) have continued to sell duty free onboard while applying their own tailored bans to duty free carry-ons (not just on US flights).

"Unless you’re travelling to the US it’s business as normal"
Mark Riches,
Managing Director, World Duty Free
Riches said while he felt a lot better about the situation today he would be happier still when he knew that BAA’s customers were getting a single message from all parties. “If the airports and the airlines can speak with a single voice and communicate better with the consumer it will be so much better.”

Reflecting on the state of the duty free and travel retail sector four days after the crisis began Riches said: “I’d have thought that we are in as good a shape as can be, bearing in mind the severity of what has happened.

"We’re basically where we want to be without compromising in any way the security and safety of our passengers.”

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But he said the travel retail sector needed to reflect on what had happened and ensure it is able to take a “pro-active” stance and “be ahead of the agenda” in the event of future crises.

Alpha Airports Group Executive Director David King said the biggest problem facing his business was that many airlines were "doing their own thing" in terms of applying varying onboard restrictions. "The big issue is consistency and simplicity - they are the two big things that make the difference," he told The Moodie Report.

He agreed though that the situation appears to be resolving itself in the UK. But he cautioned: "The issue then becomes what is happening around the world. It's the various interpretations that are making things difficult."