Thai airports push duty-free bid to address monopoly concerns

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai airports PCL (AOT) will postpone the bid for its largest two-week duty-free deal to address public concerns about the perceived monopolistic structure of the process, announced on Monday. President.

The announcement comes as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha called last week for a re-examination of the auction, after groups of retailers and activists objected to the successful bidder gaining control duty-free operations at several airports.

At auction, a license allows you to sell duty-free products at Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Phuket airports, as well as at Suvarnabhumi, the country's main airport, accounting for 82% of daily duty-free sales. of the four companies.

The airport operator will also postpone its separate license auction to manage other commercial activities at Suvarnabhumi Airport, such as shops and restaurants.

AOT generated 16.7 billion baht ($ 535 million) in concessions last year, up 13.3% from the previous year.

"We will delay the sale of tender documents, initially set for March 19. We will respond to all concerns and will take about one to two weeks," the president told reporters. AOT, Nitinai Sirismatthakarn.

He added that the winning bids will be announced in September.

Duty-free trade is one of the main beneficiaries of tourism boom in Thailand, where 2018 arrivals have exceeded 38 million people.

King Power Duty Free Co. Ltd., owner of the Leicester City Football Club in the English Premier League, is currently licensed for duty-free business and retail activities at Suvarnabhumi Airport, both expiring in 2020. He also holds a license allowing him to operate collection desks. – free products purchased elsewhere, as well as other licenses covering other airports.

King Power declined to comment.

Nitinai said the system was not monopolistic and that AOT had consolidated four airports under the duty-free retail concession to better attract bidders to smaller airports. having a lower sales volume.

"This model is for strong businesses. We want a strong company that can compete globally, "said Nitinai.