European airports battle to boost retail spend as attacks weigh

European airports are racing to redesign terminals and offer new services to pull more passengers into their stores, in the face of online competition and militant attacks that have kept away some big-spending Asian travellers. Seeking to boost the key measure of retail sales per passenger, airports are expanding and refurbishing shopping areas and ensuring routes to gates steer customers past - or through - as many stores and restaurants as possible. Vienna Airport , for example, plans to expand the shopping and food area in its Terminal 2 by about 50% - including a duty-free store positioned right after security, which passengers must pass through. London's Stansted has just completed an GBP80m makeover that increased space in the departure lounge by 60%, providing more room for shops. "Airports now are basically shopping malls with runways," said John Jarrell, head of Airport IT at Amadeus, which supplies technology systems to the industry. Retail accounts for almost a fifth of airports' revenue, a proportion that has grown steadily in the past decade, according to airports association ACI Europe, and is increasingly relied upon to help fund infrastructure and services.<br/>