JCDecaux ends its advertising contract for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) airports

JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, announces that following a competitive tender, it has not renewed the advertising contract of the four New York and New Jersey airports, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty, and New York Stewart airports.

JCDecaux held the PANYNJ advertising contract for over 30 years and is proud of the media programs the Group successfully implemented over three decades. JCDecaux is widely recognized as the number one worldwide in airport advertising in terms of innovation, professionalism and service quality.

The world is still suffering from the effect of COVID-19 where stringent health measures continue to affect the movement of passengers through airports.  During this lockdown period, the historic drop in air travel, as well as severe economic uncertainties, led companies to react immediately and reduce their advertising spend at an unprecedented scale. Currently, passengers from over forty states in the U.S. have travel restrictions in place when entering New York or New Jersey and are also subject to a wide-ranging international travel ban. Even after travel restrictions are lifted it is anticipated that there will be a significant lag before travel recovers to pre COVID-19 levels.  

Since the onset of COVID-19, JCDecaux has taken immediate and dedicated action on operating and financial levers to mitigate this decline and preserve cash, including but not limited to rent reliefs, aggressive cost management, reduced capital investment, tight control over working capital requirement and dividend cancellation.  As the global leader in airport advertising, JCDecaux remains committed to this important out-of-home channel, however, the Group will not move forward with an agreement that does not make financial sense in the current climate.