Irish Travel Retailer ARI In Expansionist Mode As It Tops $1.6 Billion

Forbes

02-05-2025

Ray Hernan, ARI's CEO.
Aer Rianta International (ARI), the travel retail arm of Ireland's state-owned airport operator DAA, delivered year-over-year revenue growth of 13% last year boosting its worldwide managed turnover to €1.4billion ($1.6 billion). An improved balance sheet also means global expansion is on the cards.
The retailer—which has substantial airport retail operations in Ireland, Canada, the Middle East and Portugal—made the results announcement on Thursday morning saying that it had achieved 'record profitability across multiple business units.'
Though ARI's growth is similar to 2023, the company lagged its rivals then. This time, in 2024's more challenging conditions, ARI's growth was well ahead of the 6.4% from world's biggest airport retailer Avolta, and in line with the second biggest, Lagardère Travel Retail's 12.5% (like-for-like). Europe's other global airport retailer, Gebr. Heinemann, will release its 2024 results late next week.
What's changed versus its competitors? While they all benefited from increased passenger volumes, ARI says it achieved high passenger spending as it pushed forward on a number of fronts, including clear ideas on 'sense of place' to accelerate growth in key markets.
For example, in its home market at Dublin and Cork airports, operations were rebranded in June 2024 from 'The Loop' to the respective city names, and doubling down by crafting unique identities for each location. A full retail refurbishment of Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport will also begin later this year.
The travel retailer currently has direct or indirect interests in 14 countries including minority shareholdings in Düsseldorf Airport in Germany, and Larnaca and Paphos airports in Cyprus.
In a statement, ARI CEO, Ray Hernan said: 'As in 2023, several business units achieved historically high turnover and record profitability. As well as returning a healthy balance sheet, we also negotiated contract extensions at a number of our operations in 2024.'
The CEO further stated that ARI's strengthened balance sheet 'would provide the platform to seek new growth opportunities across our core markets of Europe, Middle East and North America.' He did not mention specific locations.
At Larnaca and Paphos airports in Cyprus, turnover exceeded €100 million ($113 million) in 2024. The business returned a healthy profit, benefiting from record-breaking travel including an extended 'shoulder' season, despite the closeness of the island, where Britain has an airbase, to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Last year also marked the second full year of ARI's Portugal Duty Free operations where the business traded 'ahead of plan.' Revamped stores at the country's main gateways of Lisbon, Faro, Madeira, and Porto—all focused on the specific attributes of these locations—should see a continuation of the country's performance in 2025. Hernan commented: 'We are looking forward to seeing the impact of these new retail outlets on the business during what promises to be an even busier year for travel.'
ARI's Canadian operations were also robust, helped by the opening of Edmonton Duty Free in January 2024 and a refurbishment that was completed in January 2025. A remodeling of the main retail space at Montréal's Trudeau Airport will commence later this year.
Currently, ARI is running a maple activation, Cabane à Sucre (Sugar Shack), until early May at Trudeau. It is timed with Canada's maple-producing season but also benefits from the anti-Trump 'Buy Canadian' campaign that has gained traction in Canada. The chalet activation features products from maple cookies and candies to Coureur des Bois maple whisky, and hosts live music with traditional Quebec folk musicians and various giveaways.
Capturing the tilt to local products.
A spokesperson for ARI told me: 'In terms of the 'Buy Canadian' effort, we have always put a huge emphasis on local brands and producers—it is a core element of our retail proposition. Over the past few months, we have continued to highlight our local offering with a 'Made in Canada' marketing campaign in-store (and) there has been a positive uplift in Canadian liquor and confectionary so far this year.'
The maple activation has doubled sales for Coureur des Bois in the past month, showing the current appetite for buying local, and the importance of experiential in-store engagement. ARI will continues to press these buttons going forward, not just in Canada but globally.
In the Middle East, ARI has a broad sweep including operations in Bahrain, Cyprus, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. In Muscat, trading was boosted by higher liquor and tobacco allowances while the company's joint venture TRSS in Abu Dhabi Airport selling perfume, cosmetics, skincare, jewelry, and sunglasses, marked a one year anniversary in November, adding to the 2024 revenue pool.
Elsewhere in the region, ARI has stayed a shareholder in Beirut Duty Free, where the Israeli-Palestine conflict has reaped havoc on travel, with foreign tourist arrivals down by 32% in 2024. Finally, ARI's joint venture operation at Delhi International Airport was again a strong performer, delivering record sales and increased average spends.
Hernan, said: 'Delivering on our brand expression, Joy On Your Way, continues to define how we do business, and it is important to our success. We bring an energy to the industry that is unmatched.' It should be interesting to see whether ARI can live up to that statement in the rest of 2025.