For 30 years, Jeffrey Hamiel has served as the executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International (MSP), as well as six general aviation airports in the region.
MSP is in the midst of a complete concessions overhaul, along with several capital projects designed to update the airport and add capacity. ARN’s Carol Ward spoke with Hamiel about concessions plans and other changes as MSP positions itself for further growth.
Ward: The overhaul of MSP’s concession program is front and center for you right now. Can you give me an overview of your current concessions operations and your plans for the future?
Hamiel: We have about 130 different shops and restaurants in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Overall gross revenues have grown to about $185 million a year, and about $25 million of that comes to the airport. We were the first airport in the country 10 years ago to start doing a competitive batching process. In the early years, the concessionaires did not like it at all, but once we got through the process, the model really took off. Now, many other airports are approaching concessions in the same way. We approached this 2015 bidding process the same way, and we will again in 2017. It gives opportunities for new folks to enter the marketplace, provides some opportunity for diversity and quite frankly, it doesn’t let anybody dominate the marketplace in our airport. We expect that our sales will grow to well over $225 million a year in gross sales, giving us about $30 [million] to $35 million for the airport authority.
Ward: Are you concerned about the consolidation in the industry and how that might affect the competitive landscape?
Hamiel: For us, there isn’t much impact. Delaware North walked away with the largest portion of concession awards this time around: They won four of 14 batches. SSP America won two batches, Midfield Concession Enterprises won two batches and there were a number of other single winners. Even with the consolidation taking place in some arenas, we still saw significant diversity and a lot of variety in competition.
The full interview appears in the October print issue of Airport Revenue News. Click Here to subscribe.
