3Sixty (formerly DFASS) and airline group Avianca Holdings (AVH) have signed an agreement to convert the current inflight concessions with AVH’s controlled airlines into an innovative pre-order duty free and duty paid platform. The new Joint Business Agreement (JBA) will start with Avianca (Colombia), Aerogal (Ecuador), TACA (Peru), and LACSA (Costa Rica), and will service […]
Latin America
London Supply Golf Tournament raises more than $723,000 for charitable foundation
Argentine duty free operator London Supply announces that it has raised US$ 723,357 for the company’s charitable foundation from the company’s 15th Annual Golf tournament. The event took place in the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este on January 4, 2019. This year the funds will be directed to a variety of causes, with most […]
Total passenger traffic rises 6.9% in Argentina, but growth slows from 2017
Passenger traffic at Argentina’s airports reached 29.2m in 2018, up 6.9% over the previous year, reports EANA (Empresa Argentina de Navegación Aérea). Although the growth is in line with average growth over the last ten years, it shows a significant slowdown from the 15% increase in 2017. Domestic traffic grew by 12.4% to 14.2m passengers, […]
New Mexico City Airport cancellation confirmed
The new Mexico City International Airport, which has been under construction at a greenfield site in Texcoco since 2014, has been cancelled, confirmed Mexican Communications and Transport Minister, Javier Jimenez Espriu, last week. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office at the beginning of December, made a campaign promise to hold a public […]
ASUTIL endorses new Mercosur border shopping resolution but criticizes list of excluded products
Latin America’s travel retail industry was greeted with mixed news at year’s end as industry executives attempted to decipher the latest decrees from the Mercosur trading bloc, published just before the Southern Hemisphere summer recess on Dec. 16. The decree, which harmonizes the regulations on duty free shops on the borders of all the Mercosur […]
Chinese tourism in Brazil increases and it becomes easier to get a visa
The Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau reports that the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Brazil has been increasing every year, and reached 61,000 last year. According to data from Embratur, the government agency responsible for promoting tourism in Brazil, China advanced four positions in the overall ranking of countries sending visitors to Brazil. Nevertheless, […]
DFA opens 10,000 sqm Panda Free Shop on the border in Rio Branco, Uruguay
Duty Free Americas last week opened the doors to its major shopping and entertainment complex in the city of Rio Branco in Uruguay. A unique proposal in the region, the free shop is operating under the name Panda Free Shop, as part of the new Rio Branco Shopping. The Shopping center also comprises several commercial […]
SSP forms JV with DFA to enter South America with two new contracts in Brazil
Airport food and beverage operator SSP has announced it will be entering the South American travel market for the first time after securing contracts with two of Brazil’s main international airports in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The agreement is a joint venture partnership between SSP and Duty Free Americas (DFA) that is worth […]
First Brazil border shops could open before year end
Brazil may finally see the opening of its first duty free border stores in December, following the election of Jair Bolsonaro who will succeed Michel Temer as president on January 1. ASUTIL Secretary General Jose Luis Donagaray, in a press briefing held last week, says he expects one or two small operators could open the […]
400 aviation executives attend sold-out 2018 ACI-LAC Annual Assembly and Conference hosted by MIA
Some 400 aviation executives from through-out the Western Hemisphere attended the 2018 Airports Council International – Latin America & Caribbean (ACI-LAC) Annual Assembly and Conference that took place in Miami last week, hosted by Miami International Airport, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. MIA is the busiest gateway airport of the Americas, serving […]
LAC airports face capacity challenges as passenger traffic growth continues
As passenger traffic in the Latin America-Caribbean region continues to grow, Airports Council International (ACI) World and ACI Latin America-Caribbean have called for a whole-of-industry response to the forecast growth in demand for air services in the region. This call was made as the ACI Latin America-Caribbean Annual Assembly and Conference got underway this week in Miami. […]
3Sixty awarded the duty free contract for Costa Maya International Cruise Terminal
3Sixty (formerly known as DFASS) has been awarded a 10-year contract for the duty free concession at the International Cruise Terminal in Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico. The new contract with the ITM Group covers a 3,400 square foot full walk-through retail store located directly in front of the cruise pier, which should be operational in […]
Mexico’s new president to scrap $13 Billion Mexico City Airport Project
Mexico’s incoming President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week announced that he is stopping construction on the $13 billion Mexico City airport, which is already one third completed. According to Bloomberg News, Lopez Obrador scrapped the project after almost 70% of 1.07 million people who participated in a national referendum voted against the airport. The […]
Floripa launches bidding for commercial area of new Florianopolis terminal
Floripa Airport, the operator of Florianopolis International Airport in Brazil, released tender documents on Oct. 16 for retail, food & beverage and advertising concessions at the airport’s new passenger terminal. The commercial area will cover multiple categories over 4,000 square meters and includes 46 different packages. The new passenger terminal, four times larger than the […]
Legal problems for Duty Free World as LATAM terminates inflight contract
During the early part of last week, leading newspapers in Chile, Peru and Colombia reported that South America’s largest air carrier, LATAM Airlines, has unilaterally cancelled the airline’s duty free inflight concession, managed by Miami-based Duty Free World. TMI has tried unsuccessfully to contact both parties for confirmation, but we now believe that the story […]
