• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Kochi March 8 Given the surge in business at Cochin Duty Free Shop, the Cochin International Airport Ltd has initiated steps to further develop the shop so as to make it the cynosure of all air passengers travelling through the airport.

At present, Cochin Duty Free shop contributes 25 per cent of the CIAL's total revenue and the shopping at duty free has increased manifold in the recent times because of several attractions for travellers entering Kochi.

Mr S. Bharath, Managing Director of CIAL, said in a statement that the company has worked with Alpha Kreol India Ltd, a subsidiary of the multinational Alpha UK and the UAE-based Kreol Group, to position Cochin Duty Free as a strong retail outlet for both inboard and outboard passengers.

The duty free at CIAL has already earned a reputation of being amongst the lowest priced duty free shops in the Asia Middle East region. This has helped attract more inbound passengers into making purchases thereby contributing 50 per cent annual average sales growth in the eight years of operations, he said.

AIRPORT GROWTH

CIAL, he said, is India's fourth busiest airport, with domestic and international passenger traffic growing phenomenally on account of the 13 international and seven domestic airlines.

The growth in passenger traffic demands a corresponding increase in passenger amenities and the expansion of the duty free shop and the addition of the latest consumer products was a natural corollary to it, he said.

The increasing number of low cost airlines preferring Kochi has also enhanced duty free sales and the several new projects and initiatives within the airport also augur well for the shop.

Mr Gopi Menon, General Manager at Alpha Kreol, said CIAL is also running four-month-long product promotions since December. The company intends to make it as the most vibrant duty free shop in the region, which extends over 14,000 sq feet.

More Stories on : Retailing | Airlines | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Sahara launches single-window service platform for NRIs

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line