Americas Duty Free recently sat down with Daniel Montero, International Operations Director of Aldeasa, to get a sense of where the company stands heading into the second half of 2010. Montero discusses the devastating earthquake in Chile that damaged a number of Aldeasa’s stores, the company’s new walkthrough duty free in Cancun Airport’s Terminal 2, changes to the Curaçao location and the newest promotions on perfumes in Mexico.

Americas Duty Free: Can you give us an overview of the progress being made with the new Terminal 2 store at Cancun Airport?

Daniel Montero, International Operations Director, Aldeasa: We’re actually finishing work on the T2 store as we speak. The new store is also based on the walkthrough concept, which really helps facilitate more purchases. There aren’t any great changes with regard to categories, but rather in the presentation of the products; the store is more organized, modern and designed around the traveler.

A major part of the store will be dedicated to core duty free categories such as perfumes, spirits, tobacco and confectionery. However, there will be another smaller section dedicated to other categories, most notably leather goods.

ADF: Are renovations happening at any other Aldeasa locations within the Americas?

DM: We’re also in the middle of renovating the departures store in Curaçao. The outside of the store will remain the same, but inside we’re opening up the space a bit, making it more modern and attractive for passengers. The categories represented in the Curaçao store are perfumes, spirits and tobacco.

Of course, we are planning some major renovations to the majority of our stores at Santiago Airport in Chile. Many of them were damaged in the earthquake this past February, including the principal international departures store. It’s really necessary to completely renovate this particular location.

We expect these renovations to be finished near the end of the year or sometime during the first trimester of 2011. There won’t be any major changes to the present categories at the stores in Santiago, but we will certainly take this opportunity to modernize the locations, create more open spaces and optimize the areas dedicated to each category.

ADF: Will Aldeasa be running any noteworthy promotions in the Americas during the second half of the year?

DM: Every trimester we try to devise new promotions, and this time around we’ll be concentrating on launching new brands, particularly in the fragrances category. In Mexico, we’ve had a promotion running since June that gives customers a 15% discount on perfumes. This promotion, made possible by the support and collaboration of Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, is running at all of our departures stores in Cancun and at our store in Cozumel.

ADF: Are there any recent statistics you can share with us in regard to Aldeasa’s business in Latin America?

DM: According to our most recent statistics, throughout the first half of the year passenger traffic has dropped 1.3% year on year in Latin American regions. Despite this, average spend at our stores has increased by slightly more than 10% over the same period last year. This can be attributed to an improved product mix and adapting to the needs of travelers with our various promotional campaigns and discount offerings.