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Henrik Busch announced his imminent departure from Copenhagen Airports (CPH) with typical grace this week, praising his colleagues and management and extolling his experience with the company – “>I have to say that my time at CPH has been amazing.”
But that’s no surprise. The Danish airport group’s President, Commercial Affairs is one of the most personable and knowledgeable airport commercial executives you could hope to meet.
Since joining the company in a temporary capacity in June 2004, Henrik has always put the consumer first in his thinking. During the intervening years he has overseen a major overhaul of the airport’s commercial offer (including the appointment of a new duty free retailer, Gebr Heinemann)
In recent months his heavy responsibilities (which have included hotels, real estate and parking in addition to retail) have been jointly shared with Janne Moltke-Leth. But the heavy downturn in traffic, driven by the financial crisis and the collapse of Sterling (the airline not the currency) last October, meant rationalisation was inevitable – a decision that Henrik said he understood and concurred with.
“We all know that the airline industry is under pressure and CPH have presented the passenger figures which unfortunately are not in line with our expectations,” he noted.
“This affects me. My chapter at CPH ends now, after almost four years. My position has been cut and I have in agreement with the leadership completely accepted the necessity of this decision.”
The Moodie Report meets many airport executives. Henrik has been one of the pleasant and professional we have ever dealt with. In early 2006 he gave me a fascinating tour of the airport and a detailed preview of the airport duty free tender, which closed the following month. His thoroughness and helpfulness that day was typical of the man. We, along with many others, salute his achievements and wish Henrik well.
This is one President Busch who will be truly missed.