Suitcases or SKUcases: This picture from Incheon International Airport at the height of the daigou boom in 2018 underlines the sheer volumes involved in the reseller market between Korea and China

Incheon International Airport’s long-awaited new Terminal 2 opened in January 2018, featuring an extensive, often compelling retail and food & beverage offer

A gala celebration featuring a spectacular performance by the Sydney Dance Company marked the official opening of DFS Group’s renovated T Galleria by DFS, Sydney on George Street in Sydney’s central business district in April 2018. The magnificent 70,000sq ft-plus red-brick premises, which DFS has occupied for 29 years, stands near the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Travel retail’s credentials in offering the rarest ultra-premium products received a boost when Le Clos and Dubai International set a world record for the most expensive whisky bottles ever sold in the channel in April 2018. The luxury wines & spirits retailer sold two bottles of The Macallan for US$600,000 each, or a transaction value of US$1.2 million.

The airport food & beverage industry enjoyed a memorable and compelling two days in Helsinki in June 2018 as a wide-ranging FAB conference assessed the way forward and a glittering FAB Awards ceremony celebrated best-in-class. The winners are pictured here. The undoubted star of the night though was SSP America’s D’Angelo Charles (pictured in the foreground, crouching) who was named F&B Team Member of the Year after his poignant, remarkable personal story of overcoming hardship was told.

Technology company PeriscapeVR thinks there is a gap in the market for virtual reality experiences at the airport – transforming dwell time into exciting new adventures. Terminal management company JFKIAT and travel retailer Paradies Lagardère partnered with PeriscapeVR to open a VR Experience Center at New York JFK Airport Terminal 4 in June 2018 – opening a new world of possibility for passengers.

An ambitious statement about the future from Philip Morris International: We visited the company’s state-of-the-art research and development centre, the Cube, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in September 2018.

Jo Malone London’s biggest-ever travel retail activation, in partnership with Heathrow Airport and JCDecaux Airport, proved to be a show-stopper at Heathrow Terminal 2 in September 2018. Decorated with 158 hand-crafted gift boxes and a 1.6 metre bow, the Travelling Townhouse was a shrunk-to-size recreation of the brand’s Georgian townhouse in London.