Founded in 1989, King Power is the biggest duty-free retailer in Thailand with many branches all over Thailand’s major airports.
King Power duty-free shop in the airport. Photo: KhaosodCooperating with King Power, Vietnam Airlines hopes to skyrocket their inflight duty-free revenue up to $1.5 million right in the second half of 2018, reaching $3.1 million in 2019 and attaining $5.5 million in 2020.
Vietnam Airlines expects to reopen the service on the upcoming June 1st, in three hours minimum flight, for approximately 30 return flight routes including France, China, Russia, Japan, etc. The payment methods will be available in eight currencies such as VND, Japanese Yen, Euro, USD and seven types of payment cards.
In addition, according to Le Hong Ha, executive vice president of Vietnam Airlines, having inflight duty-free is a criteria of 4-star airlines, the restoration of this service will ensure Vietnam Airlines to maintain its standard.
In the past, Vietnam Airlines had partnered with IPP Group of Jonathan Hanh Nguyen, the "king" of luxury brand and NASCO (Noi Bai Airport Services Company), but these partnerships ended quickly.
Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPP), which is commonly known for distributing high-end fashion, cosmetics, perfume and famous liquor brands and NASCO (Noi Bai Airport Services Company) specialised in multiple airport services such as passenger transportation, duty-free and souvenirs services.
Cooperation with NASCO was not an optimum choice since the cost was so high and it was not as effective as working with popular firms in the world. Vietnam Airlines can gain more benefits from world class firm like King Power, such as its networks, approaches and experiences.
The previous inflight duty-free service was lack of the capacity to allow passengers to place orders online and receive their goods on flight or vice versa, to order duty-free goods on the plane and have goods delivered to their home.
Therefore, over a year of collaboration, both sides decided to temporarily cease the services to restructure for more enhanced quality and efficiency, as mentioned in the local Labour Online Newspaper.
Although duty-free shops in international airports remain to be the shopping heaven for travellers, inflight shopping not only provides airlines an extra source of revenue but also helps a segment of passengers to have more time to shop and entertain passegers in a long haul flight.
