Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport said Monday that a massive contracting process to refresh restaurants and shops across the terminal and concourses will stretch into later this year.
The world’s busiest airport had originally planned to solicit companies in the first quarter of this year for the next phases of new concessions. The airport and the City of Atlanta’s Department of Procurement handle concessions contracting.
By February, Hartsfield-Jackson General Manager Balram Bheodarai said the next round of concessions contracting would begin sometime in the spring. Then, that stretched into June.
On Monday, Hartsfield-Jackson said its next phase of contracting would open for proposals from competing companies this fall. It will be for 45,000 square feet of concessions space spread across four contracts.
The airport plans to host a concessions outreach event for interested companies on Aug. 10 at the Georgia International Convention Center from 8 a.m. to noon.
Another phase for six contracts with a total of 40,000 square feet will be issued “thereafter,” according to the airport.
Across all phases, the airport says it will refresh more than 300,000 square feet of new food, beverage, retail and service space.
An initial round of contracting, which began last year, attracted proposals from 14 companies. The airport said it will make contract award decisions “in the coming days.” The award recommendations were originally targeted for April, three months ago.
The airport last year announced plans to ultimately contract out more than 100 restaurants, shops and services across the terminal and concourses. It’s been more than a decade since the last airport-wide refresh of concessions.
Bheodari said in a written statement that the goal of the airport’s refresh of its concessions program, which it calls ATL Skypointe, “is to elevate the passenger journey and leave a lasting impression of ATL as the gateway, not only to the world, but to remarkable experiences.”
Plans to revamp food and retail outlets were delayed for years by contracting issues and by a federal corruption investigation at Atlanta City Hall. The pause continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the airport extended existing concessions contracts.
City of Atlanta chief procurement officer Jaideep Majumdar said in a written statement: “Our primary goal is to ensure fairness and transparency in the procurement process.”
The City of Atlanta’s Law Department noted in its budget briefing this year that it expects legal challenges to the concessions contract awards — which can lengthen the process further.
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