Kolkata: Facing criticism from flyers over the lack of duty-free shopping and foreign exchange facilities, the Kolkata airport authorities have asked the new duty-free operator to open at least one store in the departure area by next month. They have also floated a fresh tender with reduced rent to attract a new forex operator.According to the contract, Nuance Group (India) Pvt Ltd, the new duty-free operator, is required to start operations by Sept. However, sources said a senior airport official had asked the company’s management to expedite the opening. At present, there are no operational duty-free shops at the airport after the term of Flemingo Dutyfree Shop Pvt Ltd expired.“ We would have asked the outgoing duty-free firm to continue operations till the new firm was ready to start business so that flyers are not deprived of the facility. But we did not do so as the party had gone into litigation. We have, therefore, urged the new firm to hasten the work on the store interiors. There are also some regulatory requirements from the Excise department and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. As soon as those are in place, the operations should commence and we expect that to happen sometime next month,” the official said. The Nuance Group operates the duty-free facilities at Bangalore airport.Frequent flyers said the return of duty-free shops were needed not only to enable them to buy chocolates, perfumes and alcohol at affordable prices , it was also a place to wait for their flight. On the forex issue, the airport floated a fresh tender on Thursday, inviting bids with a minimum monthly rent of Rs 30 lakh, far lower than the Rs 1.5 crore the previous operator was contracted to pay. The previous operator, Zenith Forex, had surrendered its three-year licence after 18 months, claiming it was incurring huge losses. The airport operator subsequently reduced the base fee from Rs 1.3 crore to Rs 1 crore, but there were no takers.Forex operators said the fees had to be slashed to get a response to the tenders. “The rate charged by the airport operator has to match up with the business opportunity,” said an official of a forex firm.“The forex counters had shut last July. Thereafter, attempts to get an operator to resume operations had failed due to the rent issue. , We have revised the minimum rent to Rs 30 lakh with incremental rise of 10 percent every year. We hope to resume operations within a month,” the airport official said.A Zenith Forex official said the company is expected to bid for the Kolkata operations, which comprise four kiosks covering an aggregate floor area of around 140 sq ft. The current geopolitical situation, which has discouraged foreign travel, continued to weigh on currency exchange firms, he said.
