Fly-buy deal tops at BIA

BANGALORE: Is Bengaluru International Airport the new Bangkok in terms of shopping? May well be.
Frequent travellers have noticed that the steal deals at BIA outshine those in Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai or Colombo.
"On my last three trips abroad to Singapore and Sri Lanka, I shopped only at BIA on my return as the prices are comparatively lower. A 1-litre bottle of Scotch whisky at BIA is $31 as compared to $33 in Singapore and $32.5 in Colombo," says frequent-flier V Murthy.
BIA's retail is handled by a joint venture company formed by international airport retailer Nuance (which handles retail in airports in Hong Kong, London, Las Vegas and Sydney, among others) and Shoppers Stop.
The company also has the contract for the recently opened airport in Hyderabad. Both airports have roughly the same prices in their duty-free stores.
"Be it liquor, perfumes, cosmetics or chocolates, BIA is currently among the cheapest shopping airports in South-East Asia. Although it's difficult to make a categorical statement since there are promotional offers all the time in airports, we estimate that, by and large, prices at BIA are at least 10-15% lower," says a company official of the JV, who requested anonymity.
For instance, a 1-litre bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch whisky normally priced around $33-$35 in most Asian airports and $37 in the US, is available at $31 at BIA.
Besides, the duty-free store at BIA is even cheaper than those in the Mumbai and New Delhi international airports, which according to travellers are 10%-15% more expensive than the duty-free stores in Singapore and Dubai.
Currently, Mumbai and New Delhi account for almost 75% of India's airport retail.