Originally Posted by
CPRich
PIT's food outlets, as with all stores in the AirMall, charge prices that are the same as non-airport locations.
PIT was the first airport authority to try this strategy -- enforce street pricing for all stores and restaurants, and it was a big success. Some others have officially adopted it (e.g PDX, where it is a condition in the lease) but most have not. ATL has not, but makes a ton of money from PFC fees -- the advantage of being a big hub. I think that is part of the pattern here, some of the smaller airports or those without good non-terminal revenue streams (such as from parking) try to make it up by charging high rent and fees, resulting in high prices for the airport shops. I'm pretty sure that most airports have contracts that capture those excess profit for the airport authority and not for the shop operator. Running an airport shop is very lucrative, but with a fixed profit. The windfalls go to the airport authority, which sometimes spends it in interesting ways.