Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) topped $1 billion in concession sales in 2016, the airport announced Tuesday, marking a new record for the airport. The ATL concessions figures include revenue from food and beverage, specialty retail, news and gifts, duty free, rental cars, advertising and services.
Chilly Ewing, director of concessions for ATL, said car rental revenues increased 5.5 percent last year, while all other concessions combined for a 5.2 percent increase. Concessions revenue growth was more robust than passenger gains. Passenger traffic at ATL increased 2.64 percent to 104.17 million in 2016, up from 101.49 million passengers in 2015.
Ewing said surpassing the $1 billion threshold was satisfying given the constant drive to increase revenue to the airport, and he noted that airport workers, as well as passengers, helped push the revenue figure higher. “Not many airports in the world can claim to have generated $1 billion in sales from their concessions program,” he said. “We’re very proud to have joined that small list of airports.”
Concessions revenues have increased this year as well. For the first four months of the year, all concessions except rental cars collectively increased sales by 6 percent, while rental car sales growth slowed to 1.4 percent, Ewing said.
