Retail sales in consequence of Heathrow Airport are already greater than those between the walls of the city centres of Nottingham.

Retail sales in consequence of Heathrow Airport are already greater than those between the walls of the city centres of Nottingham, Manchester or Birmingham. The combined terminals of Heathrow have a retail turnover approaching that of Bluewater, arguably Europe's premier shopping mall. Schiphol, Singapore and others are pursuing similar increase paths, so airport retailing is already big business.

Not all airports, however, are as unfolded as these market leaders--so what should airport operators be doing to exploit the retail opportunity and by what mode will those already well down the retail track ne to unroll in future?

The first challenge for the airport operator is