London’s Stansted and Helsinki airports have launched major revamps of their retail/F&B facilities in a bid to increase passenger appeal.
A brand-new premium bakery concept, James Martin Kitchen, new Pret A Manger – with 50% more seating – and Halo, a new concept fizz bar created especially for the airport, are the latest new additions at Stansted as the airport enters the final stages of the second phase of the £80 million revamp of its international departure lounge.
In Finland, Helsinki Airport operator, Finavia, believes that new F&B outlets such as the Arctic Bar and Nordic Kitchen will bring more of a Finnish feel to Helsinki Airport.
Indeed, Finavia states that retaining a strong Finnish feel in terms of its F&B offerings will be a key focus as it enhances the airport’s growing, and ever more international, range of commercial services.
“The starting point for our commercial operations is that, regardless of the supply becoming more international, the Finnish feel will remain a strong part of the overall experience,” says Finavia’s vice president, Jukka Isomäki, who is responsible for commercial operations at Helsinki Airport.
One of the newest restaurants opened at Helsinki Airport is the Arctic Bar, operated by HMSHost. The speciality of the bar, located at Gate 29, is its roofless outdoor terrace, where departing and transit passengers get to go outside and feel the Finnish weather as it is – whether that means snow, sleet, rain or sunshine.
The idea came from wanting to offer transit passengers a small piece of authentic Finland. Elsewhere, the classic Wine & View bar operated by SSP at Helsinki Airport has undergone a complete transformation, which, according to Finavia, ensures that a more stylish and spacious wine bar now awaits passengers at Gate 26.
They will be joined by Pier Zero later this year, a two-storey café-restaurant that Finavia promises will “offer a leisurely break with a treat amid the hustle and bustle of the airport, as well as a magnificent, unrestricted view of the air traffic area”.
Source: ACI World Magazine, Detail Design,