Airport retailers expressed gratitude for the recently announced Rental Relief Package as it will enable them to continue operations and ease cash flow.
SEPANG – About 90% of 335 airport retailers nationwide have already responded to the customised Rental Relief Package recently announced by Malaysia Airports. The relief package which offers up to 100% rental rebate for six months in 2020 will assist airport retailers who are struggling from the financial impact of COVID-19. More than 250 retailers who have accepted the offer have expressed great relief on the support given to help them continue operating at the airport and ease their cash flow.
The group chief executive officer (Group CEO) of Malaysia Airports, Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said that the airport operator is making every effort to help its business partners within its affordability and utilising its own fund, “The pandemic has hit all of us very hard but in order to weather this crisis together, we must have a mutual understanding and objective to help each other. Any effort must be a two-way street for it to be effective. We are heartened to receive positive responses from the majority of the retailers where almost 90% have responded and 250 retailers have accepted the relief package and continued to support us. Nevertheless, there are a few who have declined our assistance and a few more who have yet to decide. It is my hope that we will also receive support from the bigger players that have come a long way with us and over the years have built very successful businesses with the airport. Our rental relief package is customised to their needs and requirements.”
On top of the full rental rebates for 2020, the relief package is customised to offer the pre-existing retailers special rental which is tied to the passenger growth rate starting from January 2021 onwards. For retailers who have signed up under the Commercial Reset programme, the relief package is customised to offer 30% rebate on rental starting January 2021 with a mechanism to compensate them with contract extension based on actual traffic growth rate.
Positive responses were recorded from relieved retailers such as Berjaya Food Berhad that manages Starbucks Malaysia & Brunei, Superstrap+, Gibca Ventures Sdn Bhd, Ban Heang (M) Sdn Bhd, Syidah Company, Sweet Food Convenience Store, Sony, Guardian (KLIA), AD Interact, Noodles, Retail One (Little Malaysia), KliaTV, Talasco Dagang and Prima Mahir during the Virtual Concessionaires Conference 2020 held on 16 December 2020. In gist, all had mentioned how the relief package has provided them with an avenue to sustain business operations at the airport despite the lower passenger numbers. They had also stated their continued commitment in ensuring a safe and convenient shopping and dining experiences at the airport.
The Concessionaires Conference is an annual event held to provide airport retailers with insights into the travel retail industry and share future commercial-related plans by Malaysia Airports. Due to the need to ensure safety in the midst of COVID-19, the event was held on a virtual platform for the first time ever. With the theme, ‘Together We Thrive’, the virtual event was attended by more than 100 representatives from all retail partners operating at our airports nationwide.
