Destination Delhi as T3 opening looms

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Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Welcome to Delhi_Small

The Moodie Report is in Delhi, where we’ll be helping to chair a GMR conference on the exciting new Terminal 3 at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport which opens in a few months, in plenty of time for September’s Commonwealth Games.

First I had to fly out of another T3 – at London Heathrow. I was fortunate enough to be flying with Virgin and using their fast track security got through from check-in to duty free in just 13 minutes. Fantastic. So is their lounge.

T3 was doing roaring business as I wandered around the stores and restaurants. Diageo had a well-placed tasting promotion for its limited-edition Smirnoff travel retail exclusive ‘Speaker Pack’ right at the front of the shop that was attracting a fair bit of interest.

WDF T3_Small

Smirnoff Limited Edition_Small

So were the video screens above the World Duty Free bar, where the commercial for YSL fragrance Parisienne (below) is about as hot as anything you’ll get in T3 other than a piping hot Starbucks coffee.

Parisienne ad_Small

There’s a big contrast between the beauty department at T3 – all clean, bright colours, nicely personalised, and the increasingly cluttered look of the liquor department where it’s easy to feel like you are trapped in a maze with very high walls.

Very poor aesthetically – though no doubt effective – were the dump stacks (below) of Toblerone and Ferrero chocolates, 3 for 2 and 4 for 3 respectively, not really our industry at its best.

Heathrow t3_Small

The confectionery standard’s no better at Delhi T3 arrivals. (pictured below), where to describe the offer as basic would be a gross understatement.

Alpha Delhi confectioner arrivals_Small

Mainly it’s a Scotch whisky business, underpinned by a strong Johnnie Walker promotion. Price is the key here – ‘Best prices in the region’ scream the Alpha signs – which reaches its low point in the perfumes signage (below).

Alpha perfume delhi_Small

Of course, this is an offer from a retailer on the way out, and in an old terminal. You can expect better, much better, from Aer Rianta International & IDFS when they open in a few months time at T3. More of that in subsequent blogs from Delhi.

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