Marisa Garcia The new domestic arrivals hall has opened at Oslo Airport; the first large part of the facility to open before the new Oslo Airport officially opens on 27 April 2017.
This new arrivals hall is 15,000 square metres and includes five new baggage belts, bringing the total number to thirteen.
Avinor CEO Dag Falk-Petersen and Managing Director at Oslo Airport Øyvind Hasaas, opened the arrivals hall together (Photo: Avinor Oslo Airport)
Mind Your Path
The opening of the new arrivals hall involves some changes which the airport wants passengers to pay close attention to, so that they are not confused. Passengers on domestic flights will be arriving in a brand new hall from now on. Passengers arriving from abroad will still use the existing international arrivals hall. However, the old domestic arrivals hall will soon become the new international arrivals hall.
“The flights will go as normal but we advise everyone—both the arriving passengers and those who are picking them up—to follow the signs at the airport. In addition to the arrivals hall, the train station will be expanded with new areas,” says Hasaas.
Extra airport staff will be deployed to help passengers find their way and to answer any questions.
While the expansion project continues for the remaining improvements at the terminal, many areas of the airport are still construction sites and passengers should expect some complications.
“We will do our best to shelter passengers from all kinds of noise. Of course, we hope this affects the airport operation as little as possible,” Hasaas says.
More Shopping Therapy
As part of the new arrivals terminal, Oslo has opened a new Duty Free shopping area which, at 4,000 square metres, is twice as large as the previous arrivals shop.
There is more room to wander, wider aisles for browsing, and shorter queues with more registers. The revamped register area will now have 43 registers instead of 28.
The new shop has been designed with a sleek Nordic architectural and decorative aesthetic which will blend in well with the design of the new airport terminal.
The new Duty-free at Oslo Airport (Photo: Avinor Oslo Airport)
The new Duty Free area is operated by Travel Retail Norway (TRN), and offers customers both popular Duty Free staples and special Norwegian merchandise.
TRN has increased its focus on local and ecological products, and also expanded its selection of wines with 200 new varieties. TRN has also added a greater selection of beauty products.
“This will be a unique shopping experience in brighter, nicer and more spacious surroundings. I hope the customers will feel at ease here. The increase in size also means that we can expand our selection of items, with 700 new products of the classic duty-free varieties”, says TRN Director, Håkon Fjeld-Hansen.
“This is a new type of duty-free for the European market. We now have a wide selection of merchandise and employees with thorough knowledge of their field. This shop will make you forget your urge to get home as quickly as possible. I can guarantee a great shopping experience,” Fjeld-Hansen promises.
More Revenue for TRN and Oslo
TRN reports sales revenue of NOK 5 billion a year and expects 3 to 7 per cent growth in sales as a result of this expansion at Oslo Airport.
“The new shop on arrival is a large and ambitious project from TRN, and it will be an important contribution to the commercial development of the new Oslo Airport. However, when designing the shop we have also taken into account that not all passengers want to shop. Wide passageways will make it easy to walk straight through the shopping areas for those who wish to do that,” says Executive Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Egil Thompson.
In total, TRN will invest between NOK 250 and 300 million in growing Duty-Free sales at Oslo Airport through the airport expansion. A new Duty-Free shop in the airport’s departure hall will open in April of next year, when the brand new Oslo Aiport is officially opened.
