Airports of Thailand to hold duty-free auction in May

Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um

 

FILE PHOTO: Tourists queue to check in at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, December 23, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Airports of Thailand Pcl will hold the auction for its biggest duty-free concession at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport in May, the company said on Friday.

 

The existing duty-free license is set to expire in 2020, and AOT postponed the auction process earlier this month due to public concern over the perceived monopolistic structure of the bidding process and the concession.

 

The duty-free business is a major beneficiary of a tourism boom in Thailand, where arrivals exceeded 38 million people in 2018.

 

King Power Group, owner of the English Premier League’s Leicester City Football Club, currently holds the licenses for duty-free retail and commercial activity at Suvarnabhumi, the country’s main international airport, and also at airports in Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Phuket.

 

Under a new arrangement, AOT has divided the new concession into two separate contracts - one for Suvarnabhumi which will be open for bidding in May and another contract covering Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, and Phuket airports that will not be open for bidding yet.

 

Another license up for auction in May is for non-duty-free commercial activity at Suvarnabhumi, which also expires in 2020.

 

AOT earned 16.7 billion baht ($526.2 million) from concessions in its last fiscal year, 13.3 percent more than a year earlier.

 

The concession will start on Sept. 28, 2020 and will expire on March 31, 2031, AOT said in a statement.

 

The bidding will take place on May 22 and results will be announced by May 31.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-31

AOT board agrees to split airport duty-free concession

 

 

The board of the Airports of Thailand Company (AOT) has decided to split the concession to operate airport duty-free shops into two contracts – one for Suvarnabhumi and the other for Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai international airports.

 

The AOT board, which arrived at the decision on Thursday, has stipulated that the products to be sold at the duty-free shops at all four airports must be of good quality, competitively pricedand the financial returns for the AOT from the two contractsmust be no less than those it receives under the current single operator concession.

 

Initially, the AOT wanted to retain the one-contract bidding format, but came under heavy criticism from several other retail giants who are eyeing a share of the lucrative duty-free business,which has been monopolized for years by King Power International Group, whose concession expires next year.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/aot-board-agrees-to-split-airport-duty-free-concession/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2019-03-31

This still means just one duty-free operator at Swampy and that is surely still monopolistic.

 

It doesn't state whether the same company can win both bids either.

 

Let's see.

 

 

I thought a duty free auction meant they were selling off all the “liquids” confiscated by security checks. (Minus those consumed at the New Year Party).

The chances of King Power relying on Leicester City for income is a dream come true.

 

But, it will never happen. They will be the duty free people for years to come. It is just they way things are here.

“and the financial returns for the AOT from the two contractsmust be no less than those it receives under the current single operator concession.”

That’s curious. Are they talking about a percentage of sales/income commitment or AOT’s net income which would be a constant variable for the vendor.

 

I wonder if one of the greedy Manchester clubs will be submitting bids.....

King power is one of the "moneymen" behind Bhumjaithai - the political party that just won 51 seats in the election and has to decide upon a coalition partner by May.

 

Coincidence?

As a matter of principle, I buy nothing from duty-free Thailand (King Power). 

There should be multiple duty-free vendors at swampy to get a little price competition going and lower prices for the patrons.