ONE of the main figures behind the retailing boom at Southampton Airport is to leave BAA, it has emerged.

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

The 50-year-old, who joined BAA as Gatwick Airport's retail director 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 £654m to £802m in the 2003/04 financial year.

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

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 the company 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."

BAA, which employs more than 181 people at Southampton, operates Heathrow and Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports.

Southampton Airport boss David Cumming said: "We are sad to learn that Brian Collie, BAA group retail director and BAA plc board member, will be stepping down from his position.

"Over the 12 years that Brian has been with BAA, he has been instrumental in driving forward the airport's retail business."

Southampton, which handled 1.2m passengers last year, has 700 square metres of retail space, which includes catering facilities, duty free shops, WH Smith and car hire companies.

Enough champagne has been sold at the airport since January to fill 60 baths, and an average 20 boxes of chocolates are sold every hour.

The current top-selling book at the airport is Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, while the favourite travellers' snack is ham and cheese paninni.

Cappuccino isthe best-selling hot drink, while fragrances Eternity and Anais Anais are the most popular.

Passengers at Southampton tend to have spare cash to spend on gifts because the majority are aged over 25, with relatively good incomes, and, again, most of them are on leisure-related visits.