Whitepaper: The Digital Airport Commerce Ecosystem

How Airports, Airlines and Travel Retail can benefit from Digitalisation.

Management Summary

Airports, airlines and travel retail operators are currently facing unparalleled challenges, both in the way they do business as well as in the aviation industry itself. Rapidly changing purchasing behavior by customers, the evolving E-Commerce industry and digitalisation are disrupting traditional revenue streams and business models of airports and airlines.

The passenger’s buying behavior has fundamentally changed. Research shows that traditional travel retail is being challenged and major growth is unlikely. Digitalisation is a threat for all key players in the aviation industry, should they choose not to change anything. However, airports, airlines and travel retailers can also embrace digitalisation and view it as an enormous opportunity to find new ways to generate core nonaviation revenues. To achieve this though, they will need to collaborate and create a digital airport commerce ecosystem together. The result: A win-win situation for all stakeholders.

This whitepaper describes how stakeholders in the travel retail industry – airports, airlines, brands and duty-free operators – can benefit from digitalisation and how they can begin their journey on the way to a digital airport commerce ecosystem.