Originally Posted by
call100
Airports don't sell any food or drink. You buy it from the outlets that are not owned by the airport company.
Aha, many fall for that one.
The outlet structures are physically owned by the airport. The operators are just brought in to do the day-to-day running of them. There are a range of styles of contract but commonly the airport will try to jack the rental up as high as possible, discussing on the basis that there is a certain passenger flow, an assurance that the airport will not allow a rival, etc, while squeezing the store operators margin to the minimum. The bulk of the operation's margin goes to the airport.
This explains why, despite sky-high prices in the catering premises, you are nowadays invariably served by a minimum-wage oik with little grasp of English or food presentation.
An alternative is for the airport to take say 90% of the margin (yes, that high), after the operating expenses (stock, staff, overheads, etc). The operator gets 10% of the margin. THis is more tedious for the airport as they have to scrutinise the detailed operating costs, but can give them a still greater total take. There are a range of approaches for the pricing to be determined. Things like magazines with a price printed on them invariably get sold at standard price (apart from foreign ones with no UK price shown), everything else is a commercial judgement.
Car parks are invariably priced by the airport, despite them saying NCP, BCP, or whoever. They is just the actual day-to-day operator. "For the environment" has been a heaven-sent opportunity for airport owners to jack car parking prices sky-high and then say its for your own good.