PITTSBURGH, February 28, 2006 – Pittsburgh International Airport was recently given top honors in several categories of the Airport Revenue News (ARN) 2006 Best Concessions Poll. Pittsburgh International Airport and its AIRMALL® earned awards for “Airport with Best Concessions Design,” “Airport with the Most Unique Services” and “Airport with the Best Overall Concessions Program” in the medium-sized airport category. In addition, four individual retail operators received awards. XpresSpa won “Best New Specialty Retail Concept,” L’Occitane en Provence won “Best Airport Retail Store Design,” Hudson News won “Best Airport News & Gift Operator” and The Paradies Shop won “Retailer with the Highest Regard for Customer Service.” Pittsburgh International Airport, with its BAA-managed AIRMALL®, was one of the biggest winners in the country.
“I couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Mark Knight, Vice President of BAA USA. “We strive to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction by providing a wide array of national and regional retail brands, regular-mall pricing, quality customer service, promotions and an overall high expectation of excellence, and it is wonderful to see our hard work and dedication recognized by the industry’s leading publication.
BAA pioneered the AIRMALL® concept in the U.S. at Pittsburgh International Airport, evolving U.S. airport concessions programs to today’s standard. The success of BAA’s AIRMALL® concept has been confirmed time and again with many ARN honors awarded to Pittsburgh International Airport in the past few years, including awards such as “Best Overall Concessions Program,” “Best Concessions Management” and “Best Customer Service.”