Lotte Takes Over Airport Duty Free Concession From DFS, as Scheduled Sunday

Guam - Lotte Duty Free completed its takeover of the airport concession space Sunday on schedule, following Friday's dismissal of  a lawsuit filed by rival DFS which sough to block the transition in protest over the contract award to Lotte.

A statement Sunday from Lotte says that the takeover will allow them to carry on with its $24 million dollar upgrade. The transition will be completed by the end of the year, according to the release. 

Airport officials have previously told PNC News that Lotte will be providing limited duty free services to the traveling public until the renovations are complete.

READ the news release from Lotte Duty Free below:

Lotte Duty Free Guam announced today that it had met its commitment to the Guam International Airport Authority (GIAA) and took over operations of the GIAA airport retail concession at 12:01am Sunday July 21, 2013.  The CEO of Duty Free Guam, Mr. Jamie Lee said, “I want to thank the airport and the people that work at DFS for the assistance in making this a smooth take over operationally.” Mr. Lee went on to commend the new staff of Lotte Duty Free, which number 125 people of which more than 95% are from Guam, for their hard work in meeting the timeline presented by the GIAA.  The takeover will now allow Lotte Duty Free Guam to proceed with completing the $24 million in renovations planned for the airport.  The completion of the renovations will take until the end of the year to complete.   “We will have “soft opening very soon,” Mr. Lee indicated.  “Tonight we simply take over operations and the work to build our new presence truly begins.”