MIDDLE EAST. Aer Rianta International-Middle East (ARIME) has named Nuno Amaral as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. It is one of several organisational changes as the company – a partnership between ARI and Global Investments SPC – plans for a new wave of expansion.
Amaral, who joined the company in 2014, previously held the position of Deputy Chief Operations Officer with ARI. He will join the ARIME Board and the ARI Executive Leadership Team.
Before joining ARI, he was Chief Executive of Lojas Francas de Portugal, which at that time was part of the Nuance Group, now Dufry. He has also previously held several leadership positions with Unilever.
In related news, ARIME has named Patrick McKenna as Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer. McKenna, who joined ARI in 1989 and has held several senior leadership positions in ARI and ARIME, is also a member of the ARI Executive Leadership Team. He was named Managing Director at ARIME in 2015.
ARI said that the two appointments “reinforce the strategic importance of the Middle East region within the wider ARI business. ARIME has enjoyed two decades of successful trading and these management changes will better position the business for its next chapter.”
ARIME Chairman Abdulla Buhindi said he was “delighted that ARIME is now perfectly positioned to exploit the growth opportunities in the Middle East region, both from existing operations and new opportunities in coming years.”
ARI Chief Executive Jack MacGowan said: “The new organisational structure gives ARIME the right team of people in the right roles to enable ARIME to achieve its ambitious growth strategy”.
ARIME, which has airport retail outlets in Bahrain, Lebanon, Cyprus and Oman, is set to build on its network with new operations at Abu Dhabi Airport’s new Midfield Terminal and at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. ARIME will also triple its retail space at Muscat Airport when its new terminal opens later this year.
The company also recently retained its contract for the duty free operation at Beirut Airport with local partner Phoenicia.
*In other recent ARI moves, James McLean joined the group in June as Global Business Development Manager, reporting to Global Business Development Director John Boland. McLean was previously Senior Manager Non-Aeronautical Concessions at Oman Airports Management Company, and worked in a number of roles at Abu Dhabi Airports and Abu Dhabi Duty Free from 2000 to 2011.
