With the Assistant to GACA President for Airports, Eng. Tariq Alabduljabar and the French ambassador to Kingdom, Mr. Francois Goyet in attendance, Mr. Abdul-Aziz Abuharba, Director General of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh signed a contract to operate the Duty Free shops in two of the international terminals (one and two) with Lagardere alliance (Lagardere Travel Retail).
Under the contract, Lagardere will operate the Duty Free shops at the KKIA on an area of 1020 Square Meters for each terminal. Eng. Tariq added that the contract came as an extension of GACA goals of raising the level of services for the traveling public and invest in the terminal facilities and develop them in line with the needed requirements. He stressed that GACA reviewed the expertise of many companies specializing in operation and management of Duty Free shops, at the end the current company (Lagardere) was chosen after meeting all the needed administrative and technical requirements. The company also possess solid experience in this area, notably Duty Free shops in a number of countries, especially Charles de Gaulle airport in the French capital Paris.
Alabduljabar stressed that the General Authority of Civil Aviation have a number of different projects for the development of airport facilities in its international and regional airport. While keeping an eye on improving points of sales to keep up with the requirements of the traveling public and provide them with best possible services. He went on to say that a similar contract to operate the Duty Free shops at King Fahad International Airport in Dammam will be signed soon.
It is worth mentioning that Lagardere is one of the best ten companies in the world specializing in retail sale and is operating in thirty-one countries around the world (America, Europe, East Asia, Australia and the Middle East “Abu Dhabi”) and it is present in more than 4000 sale’s points.
GACA’s mission is to develop the air transport industry in accordance with the latest international standards, strengthen the position of the Kingdom as a globally influential player in civil aviation, achieve financial growth and sustainability, and enforce the relevant rules, regulations and procedures to ensure air transport safety and security.
GACA currently oversees economic and safety regulation, air navigation services and the operations of Saudi Arabia’s 27 existing airports comprising 5 international, 9 regional and 13 domestic airports with a collective passenger throughput of 75 million as of 2014.
