One of the main figures behind the retailing boom at Gatwick is to leave BAA, the airport's operator has announced.

The company said Brian Collie had driven strong growth in sales and profitability during his seven years as group retail director.

The 50-year-old, who took the post at Gatwick in 1992, is leaving the company to "pursue a different lifestyle".

In his seven years on the board, revenues from the retail business rose from £654 million to £802 million in the 2003/04 financial year.

This was achieved despite the loss of duty free sales to the EU.

The £443,000-a-year executive leaves with a pension pot of more than £1 million but will not be getting compensation payments to settle his outstanding contract.

Chief executive Mike Clasper said: "Brian has been the key player in establishing BAA as the world's leading airport retailer and we will be sorry to lose him. But we respect his decision and wish him well."

Mr Collie is expected to leave at the end of the year.

He said: "This is a purely personal decision, based upon my desire to pursue a different lifestyle and I will not be seeking any full time executive position in the airport or retail industry in the future."

As well as Heathrow and Gatwick, BAA operates Stansted, Glasgow, Southampton, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports.

Mr Collie, who gained retail experience in the 1970s and 1980s with Littlewoods and Burton Group, was also responsible for setting up BAA's international duty-free company World Duty Free.

Tuesday August 31, 2004