← Business Metric: Industry Specific (Infrastructure, Transport & Utilities) (all topics)
SPP (spend per passenger) at airports
What it is
Non-aeronautical revenue divided by passengers - the standard measure of how well an airport monetises its footfall through retail, food, duty free and services
It depends on dwell time, terminal design, tenant mix and passenger profile rather than on traffic volume
Impact on industries
- Improvable through operator action, unlike traffic, so it is where management skill genuinely shows in the numbers
- International passengers spend materially more than domestic, so a rising international mix lifts SPP without any operational change
- Terminal expansion and premium retail raise it structurally, which is why airport capex targets commercial space alongside capacity
- Constrained by passenger price sensitivity in a predominantly domestic, cost-conscious market
- It is the airport analogue of ARPOB, SPH and ARPU in other industries - a per-unit monetisation metric read alongside volume