I have been flying around the world — for work and pleasure — for nearly 30 years now. If you want me to be quiet, just sit me in front of a window at an airport overlooking the tarmac and runway and I will be in awe for hours watching the airplanes moving, taking off and landing. The magic of airports has not lost its spark for me even after all that time in the business. When I travel from Europe or Asia, I will always make sure to arrive at the airport a few hours before departure because I want to enjoy the world-class shopping and dining. However, when traveling out of the U.S., I am usually arriving just in time to have a quick coffee or bite in the lounge before going to my gate.

In 2022, U.S. retail sales were at $4.8 trillion — more than in any other country in the world. In comparison, in the same year, the global travel retail industry was worth $70 billion, of which sales in the U.S. reached approximately $7 billion, only 10 percent of global travel retail sales.

Why is the leading retail nation in the world not shopping at airports? There is a huge potential for the U.S. airport market to catch up with the rest of the world and it is happening in a big way right now. Travel retail is forecasted to reach $140 billion in sales in 2030 and the U.S. will have a much bigger piece of the pie than just the current 10 percent.

Here are my three most important reasons why it is a good time for U.S. brands to look at the airport market:

1. Huge Investments Toward Airport Infrastructure

As part of the U.S. government’s $25 billion infrastructure bill, $5 billion will be invested into terminal modernization. Some of the transformation has already happened or is about to happen. One example of the impact of such investment is at LaGuardia Airport in New York. In the past, every traveler flying out of LaGuardia airport complained. Now, I know many people (including myself) who deliberately choose La Guardia for its ease of travel through the airport, the quality of the lounges, and the quality of its retail offer. Kudos to LaGuardia gateway partners (LGP) for creating this amazing customer experience. LGP has also just announced to appointment of Suzette Noble as its new CEO.

2. Renowned Mall Developers are Bringing Their Expertise to Airports

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) — one of the biggest shopping mall operators in the U.S. — announced at the beginning of this year the creation of a URW airports division with the nomination of Dany Nasr as the company’s first CEO. URW is currently the master concessionaire at Los Angeles International Airport and O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. URW will also lead the new retail development of John F. Kennedy Airport’s Terminal 8 in New York, which will be a $125-million commercial development project in collaboration with the Port Authority of New York and American Airlines. And last but not least, URW has joined The New Terminal One (NTO) — a consortium of labor, operating and financial partners — as the exclusive commercial developer and manager for the $9.5 billion project which will open in 2026 and replace the Terminal 1 in JFK. Watch this space; URW will surely deliver a luxury mall like product at those two terminals at JFK.

3. The Key to Success is a Carefully Curated Mix of Global and Local brands

While the “high-street” retail world looks at the U.S. as a benchmark, in airport retail we must look to Europe and Asia for benchmarking. The most successful airports from a spend-per-passenger perspective (e.g. London Heathrow, Istanbul etc.) have one important theme in common: they combine the most sought-after luxury brands (LV, Chanel, Hermès, etc.) with a very focused representation of local brands and treasures. At Istanbul Airport, the retail operator Gebr. Heinemann created a Turkish bazaar experience with many local artisanal brands. London Heathrow features brands like Ted Baker, Pink, Mulberry, and Harrods, just to name a few iconic British brands.

To summarize, airports in the U.S. are seeking to finally get on par with their counter parts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Retail will play an integral part in this development and the financial opportunity and the opportunity to get brand exposure to millions of travelers is huge. I like to urge every brand owner (global or local) who is reading this article to study an expansion into this exciting channel. This is a passion project for me (I am not a consultant); if you want to learn more, happy to share with you my passion for this channel over a (virtual) cup of coffee.