Norway airport tenders
Talking tenders in Norway
Norway’s airport company Avinor is preparing to call tenders for its key commercial contracts, led by duty-free & duty-paid retail, travel essentials, food & beverage and lounges in early 2026. In advance of the launch, Dermot Davitt speaks to Avinor Executive Vice President for Commercial Areas Joachim Lupnaav Johnsen and Vice President Commercial Terminal Iskra Skram about the opportunities.
“We have gone from a very predictable market to a dynamic and hyper-segmented one” – Avinor Executive Vice President for Commercial Areas Joachim Lupnaav Johnsen
“This represents the largest Nordic airport concession opportunity this decade.” So says Avinor Executive Vice President for Commercial Areas Joachim Lupnaav Johnsen as Norway’s airport company prepares to issue tenders for duty free & duty paid, speciality retail, travel essentials, food & beverage and lounge contracts in early 2026.
The value of the business – anchored by core-category duty free – explains the intense market interest from potential partners as the opportunities come to market.
The concessions on offer span around 120 outlets in total across channels at 12 airports, led by Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim plus selected regional locations.
According to Avinor estimates, the new contracts are worth around NOK50 billion (€4.25 billion) in sales value over their lifetime, though this also depends on term lengths, which remain under discussion and will be finalised before tender launch.
The opportunity can also be framed though the lens of recent traffic performance: Norway’s airports served over 51 million passengers in 2024, with international traveller numbers growing almost twice as fast as domestic.
Among these contracts, duty-free & single-price retail, currently managed by long-term partner Travel Retail Norway, is the most valuable agreement, described by Johnsen as “the financial backbone of our business”.
The channel contributes close to 25% of Avinor’s annual income – and around 40% of commercial revenues – and is fundamental to the ‘Avinor model’, where profitable airports finance those that are not.
“The contracts are therefore far more than retail agreements: they safeguard the financing of Norway’s entire airport network and ensure national connectivity, making duty free one of the most critical pillars of our business model,” stresses Johnsen.
The high duty-free spends and basket sizes in this market are driven by the affluent Norwegian population – across all categories at the airport they spend six times the amount compared to visitors – but the business is not what it was before the pandemic.
The weakening of the Norwegian Kroner is one factor, softer spending and changing shopper habits are others, while regulatory change, notably in the slashing of tobacco allowances three years ago, has also played a part.
The arrivals business remains a critical channel, one sustained largely by the wide price differential between duty-free and domestic wines & spirits.
Given these factors, the duty-free & single-price contract at Norway’s airports represents one of the world’s most attractive travel retail opportunities, with an estimated five-year turnover valued at around NOK30 billion (US$3.06 billion).
Two departures duty-free stores at Oslo Airport will be consolidated into a single outlet to offer a wider product assortment
Duty free, managed by Gebr. Heinemann-led Travel Retail Norway, remains the jewel in the Avinor retail crown
Duty free is also central to the traveller experience, built around variety of offer, building guest relationships through physical and digital contact points, while being a premium showcase for Norwegian and international brands.
All of this should help attract the right partner, one that is “hands-on, agile and customer-centric, able to stay relevant with dynamic assortments, shorter trend cycles and a changing passenger mix”, says Avinor.
One element that bidders will need to take into account is the change in the consumer audience and how they are engaged.
Johnsen says: “During the pandemic we anticipated the world would come back as it used to be, which it has not. It’s a very different world.
“We have seen business travel reduce significantly and recover at a slower rate. There has been much stronger growth in leisure travel and in the variety of visitor groups, many of them Gen Z and many from the major western European countries, who have come into our market. Norway has become a big focus for tourism now, encouraged by the government, with winter sports a growing attraction, with the weaker Kroner a factor too.
“In general, we have gone from a very predictable market to a dynamic and hyper-segmented, and that will be a big challenge for us under the next set of contracts.”
The wine cellar at Oslo Airport highlights Norwegian favourites {All images courtesy of Avinor}
For retail this means Avinor and commercial partners must consider the continuing vital role of Norwegian shoppers while becoming “much sharper” in segmenting the audience and in tailoring the offering to them, he adds.
Johnsen says, “What we have learned in the last five years is that we cannot predict the future, so we need to cater for each situation, open up for flexibility and learn and develop as we go.
“Norwegians are the among the highest travelling nationalities in the world plus they still spend heavily so we cannot expect much more from them.
“The opportunity lies in the new wave of travellers from outside but that also demands flexibility, new skill sets and different ways of approaching them. We have become good at adapting but we probably won’t even see the full story in the next five to seven years.
“This is also why we are going pretty early in terms of the tendering. We have time to have proper dialogue with potential partners, to get a new understanding of consumer trends and to get their feedback. This is not about us telling everyone what to do, but about making sure we have good exchanges during the tendering process. And we are looking for partners that can handle the new dynamics.”
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The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 347 | 26 September 2025
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