Company Overview

Established in 1995, Airport Electronics Inc. (AEI) developed and operated multiple specialty retail, news, and gift stores in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and New York’s LaGuardia and JFK Airports. Three influential concepts developed by AEI in its first 10 years of operation were City News (local convenience store), The Atlanta City Store (local gifts and souvenirs), and ZONA (lifestyle specialty retail).

In 2012 AEI entered the luxury travel retail business as a joint venture partner with Duty-Free Americas at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — operating two large traditional duty-free stores and five luxury brand boutiques.

AEI further expanded its luxury travel retail business in 2013 through a duty-free joint venture partnership with DFS at New York's JFK Airport Terminal 4 — operating a dedicated luxury beauty store, an epicurean spirits, wine, and food store, and several curated specialty retail pop-ups.

In 2020 AEI entered the airport commercial services business as a reseller/subcontractor of innovative and customizable LED digital display screens, security and service solutions, infrastructure components that feature in wayfinding, concessions advertising, and multimedia/sense of place installation experiences.

AEI is 100% owned and operated by Jay Richardson and Arthur Richardson, an African American married couple. The company has maintained its ACDBE Certification status with the Georgia Department of Transportation and with the City of Atlanta since 1995. AEI has been certified by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as an ACDBE company since December 2006, and as a MBE/DBE vendor since January 2020.