New era for duty free at Cairns Airport

An exciting new era of duty free shopping is coming to Cairns Airport.
As construction continues on the $15M International Terminal upgrade Cairns Airport Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Brown, today announced that JR/ Duty Free has been appointed as the preferred tenderer for the airport’s new duty free store.

“This is exciting news for our international passengers as we extend Cairns Airport’s duty free offer in our international terminal,” Mr Brown said.
The current project includes creation of a walk-through duty free store for the International Departure Lounge. A first for Cairns Airport, it will be completed in December this year.
“We received a very competitive response from duty free companies to our call for tenders to operate the new store which went out to the industry in August this year. We had the difficult task of choosing between submissions presented by extremely professional operators keen to be a part of Cairns Airport.”
At the end of the day, JR/Duty Free provided a very compelling offer supported by a high level of experience and professionalism. We look forward to working with them on the new fit-out of their walk-through Departure Lounge store which will complement the overall retail refurbishment.”
As the upgrade of the international terminal continues other new stores opening soon include Relay newsagency, an Australian Made specialty store and a Jewellery Lounge, while a call for Expressions of Interest is soon to be issued for new food and beverage concessions.
Milton Lasnitzki, Director and CEO of James Richardson Group said “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to operate the duty free concession at Cairns Airport and support their plans for substantial passenger growth.”
“We look forward to offering passengers arriving and departing at Cairns, the same JR service and innovation that we are currently providing at New Zealand airports and at Darwin Airport.”
“Our strong, Chinese passenger based, off-airport business in Melbourne, gives us confidence that we will be able to successfully service this important segment of Cairn Airport’s passenger growth plans.”
Evelyn Danos, Chair and Executive Director of James Richardson added “JR/Duty Free is the only Australian owned duty free operator and it is important to add another Australian airport to our portfolio.”