Catania, 8 April 2019. Travel Retail Italiana, a subsidiary of Gebr. Heinemann, on Friday officially opened a 200 square metre shop in the new and second terminal building (Terminal C) at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport in Sicily. The new shop will be Heinemann's fifth Duty Free & Travel Value Shop at the airport. The four shops located in Terminal A (LTC and PC Schengen, Gate shop Non-Schengen and Accessories Shop Schengen) cover a total sales area of 245 square metres and have been operated by Travel Retail Italiana since 2014.
"Catania-Fontanarossa Airport is an extremely committed and professional partner with a very long-term focus. For this reason, we are a great match for each other and have been working for five years now on continuously designing a tailor-made shopping experience for our passengers at Catania-Fontanarossa Airport. The new shop is a great confirmation of our long-term and trusted partnership," says Karl Niendorf, Managing Director at Travel Retail Italiana.
Big focus on local brands and dolce vita
In the new shop customers will find the entire Duty Free range of perfumes and cosmetics, confectionery and spirits, accessories and convenience offer. The new shop is boasting the largest beauty area of all shops at Catania Airport, catering to the demand for new and trendy products especially among domestic travellers. As Terminal C is exclusive to EasyJet flights, there is also a high focus on price offer zones.
In addition, there is a particular large selection of popular local brands. Around 70 square metres of retail space are dedicated exclusively to regional products. Alongside souvenirs, typical Italian products ranging from accessories to specialties from the food and liquor categories are offered within the “Sicilian market concept” reflecting the local spirit of the airport. While travellers wait for their flights, they can discover the diverse flavours and unique tastes of Italy – from real Italian parmesan and original Italian salami to limoncello, Sicilian wines and the almond and pistachio pastries typical of the region. Features typical of Italian markets and fine-dining restaurants around the country generate a homely Italian ambience in the shop. The regional back wall drawings with typical Sicilian features were drawn by a Sicilian artist over a period of four days, with the final elements completed live during the shop opening ceremony.
“The opening of the new Heinemann shop in the Terminal C is a further quality building block for Catania Airport. Once more, this international brand has chosen our city to invest and open a new retail shop of over 200 sqm in this airport, thus confirming the attractivity of our airport which, today, is a reference point and a hub for all the tourist activities in eastern Sicily, with almost 10 million passengers passing by.
Furthermore, the opening of the shop corroborates the choice to return Terminal C to passengers’ use, thus recovering an essential space. A space which, starting from today, gets further enriched and confirms the big potential of a structure which – in addition to being a place devoted to mobility – becomes more and more an “experience”. Therefore, we must thank Heinemann for being at our side again, to make Catania airport always more and more international and attractive for big brands,” says Nico Torrisi, CEO of Catania-Fontanarossa Airport.
Potential for further growth
Catania is a strategically important market for Gebr. Heinemann. The airport is the main gateway to Sicily and the entrance door to the most important tourist destinations of south Italian island, such as Taormina, the Aeolian Islands, Etna, Siracusa, Ragusa and Agrigento. With almost 10 million passengers, Catania-Fontanarossa Airport is developing with rapid growth. In addition to domestic travellers from Italy, passengers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland the UK and France are among the strongest customer groups in the Heinemann Duty Free & Travel Value Shops.
“Catania is one of our key Italian outlets. We see a big potential to further encourage growth, especially due to the added passenger capacity with Terminal C. Therefore, we are keen on further investing in increased commercial offers and shop concepts at this airport,” says Karl Niendorf.
About Travel Retail Italiana
Travel Retail Italiana, the subsidiary of family-run global Duty Free Player Gebr. Heinemann, is operating eight Heinemann Duty Free & Travel Value Shops at three Italian airports: Bologna (2), Turin (1) and Catania (5). Gebr. Heinemann is present in Italy since 2011.
About Catania-Fontanarossa Airport
Catania airport is the biggest airport in the south of Italy managed by SAC- Società Aeroporto Catania and the fifth biggest airport in Italy. In 2018, 9.900.000 passengers used Catania airport. It is the main airport for seven provinces (Catania, Ragusa, Siracusa, Caltanissetta, Messina, Enna and Agrigento). Catania airport is also the third most important sanitary Italian airport.
From Catania, heart of Mediterranean Sea, passengers can reach many European destinations: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and Non-European destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
Press contact:
Gebr. Heinemann
Julia Knors / Corporate Communications Manager
Telephone: +49 40 3010 2186
Catania-Fontanarossa Airport
Melania Tanteri
Press Office SAC
+39 347 0059 098
melaniatanteri@yahoo.it
