Airports of Thailand (AoT) has revealed that King Power and The Mall Group will compete to win the right to operate duty-free shops at Bangkok's Don Mueang airport.
The names were released by AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn on Monday.
The current concession, which is held by King Power Duty Free Co, will only expire in September 2022, but AoT wants the winning bidder -- the name of which will be announced on Dec 16 -- to begin preparing two years before the present contract ends.
AoT will invite the two contenders to present their vision for the duty-free shopping areas at Don Mueang airport on Dec 12-13.
"The tender is expected to be fierce as both companies are likely to offer 'big deals' to secure the concession to operate out of the capital's second airport, which will mean bigger profit sharing for us," Mr Nitinai said.
The winning bidder will be given the right to operate the duty-free shops at Don Mueang airport, which covers some 4,000 square metres (m²) of floor space -- 2,000m² in Terminal 2, while the remaining 2,000m² will be located on the yet-to-be-built Terminal 3, which will serve international flights only.
Earlier in the year, King Power won the right to run duty-free shops at four airports managed by AoT -- namely Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, and Samut Prakan's Suvarnabhumi airport.