Thursday, 07 January 2010

• Airport Delays are Good for Business?

  
  

  With winter weather hitting across the country and increased security measures, wait times at airports are only getting longer. And if you're anything like me, you might just be focusing on the hassle of waiting around and trying to budget enough time to make sure you don't miss your flight.

  But an article from Fortune turned my attention to another aspect of the airport waiting game: the concession stands. I hadn't thought about it before, but flight delays and the resulting increased time in the terminals means more money for those running restaurants and concession stands. So longer flight queues are translating into longer lines at McDonald's, Auntie Anne's and the like.  Some restaurants will even stay open longer to accommodate travelers stuck in the airport beyond normal hours of operation. One company actually saw double digit gains during the last week of December, when winter storms messed up air travel across the country. Not all bad weather is good business though- if weather conditions warrant shutting down airports  entirely, that's bad news for the restaurants.  
  

  But it's not just bad weather that's helping the airport food industry. With unpredictable security wait times, more people are being conservative and getting to the airport earlier. This is definitely me when I travel- I'd much rather get to the airport early and have to kill time than stress about possibly missing my flight. As a result, I always end up getting food at the airport because, combined with my flight time, it's a good 5 hour event. Because more people are going through security first, there's actually been a shift to having restaurants after security rather than before, which was previously the norm.

  And airlines' cost cutting is helping out airport restaurants too. With limited in-flight food options, concessions are hawking more portable options for people to bring onto the planes with them. So while general air travel volumes are falling, airport restaurants are being kept out of decline by some of these changes.

  The article completely matched my airport behavior. I realized I usually spend at least $15-$20 on a meal and snacks when I'm at the airport.

  Do you end up spending more money than usual on food at the airport?  How much do you usually spend?

  Check out the full article here: http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/06/news/economy/airport_restaurants.fortune/index.htm
  

  
  

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