Colm McLoughlin, the Irishman who led Dubai Obligation Free to grow to be an airport retail large.
The Irishman who landed within the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and helped lead Dubai Obligation Free into changing into an airport retail behemoth producing billions of {dollars}, has died. Colm McLoughlin was 81.
McLoughlin ran Dubai Obligation Free from 1983 till he retired earlier this 12 months, a span of over 40 years that noticed Dubai develop from a creekside buying and selling port into a contemporary metropolis, house to the world’s tallest constructing and different points of interest.
And all of the hundreds of thousands of passengers coming into Dubai Worldwide Airport, now the world’s busiest for worldwide journey, noticed the rows of electronics, cigarettes, cigars, alcohol and different items out there duty-free at his shops, hawked by a salesforce in inexperienced swimsuit jackets, yellow ties and conversing in a number of languages.
“It is a very Center Jap sort of factor,” McLoughlin instructed the Los Angeles Instances in 1987 as he confirmed off its gold market. “Now we have to cater to lots of tastes.”
Dubai Obligation Free mentioned in an announcement that McLoughlin died Wednesday after a brief sickness. The operation’s new managing director, Ramesh Cidambi, praised McLoughlin for steering its “progress to a $2 billion greenback enterprise with over 6,000 workers on the time of his retirement”.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the CEO of long-haul service Emirates and chairman of Dubai Obligation Free, provided his condolences.
“His ardour, dedication and pioneering spirit have left a long-lasting legacy,” Sheikh Ahmed mentioned in a publish on the social platform X.
Born in Ballinasloe, Eire, in 1943, McLoughlin joined Shannon Airport’s first-in-the-world duty-free operation in 1969. In July 1983, he got here with a 10-man group to Dubai to arrange the sandy airport’s duty-free operation. His six-month contract ended up stretching into 40 years.
Covid took its toll
Like the remainder of the aviation business, Dubai Obligation Free took a success in the course of the years of the Covid and the following airline groundings. However gross sales have since bounced again.
In 2023 alone, below McLoughlin, Dubai Obligation Free offered six million cans of beer, 2.3 million bottles of whiskey, 2.3 million cartons of cigarettes, 10.2 million cigars and three.3 million bottles of fragrance.
One massive phase has been Chinese language travellers, after Dubai Obligation Free labored to simply accept their bank cards, had employees talking Mandarin and provided items that they needed.
“We’d be foolish if we didn’t make the most of it and attempt to serve them,” McLoughlin instructed The Related Press in 2012.
And lots of a bleary-eyed traveller in Dubai’s cavernous airport tried their luck on the fixed raffles being provided, whether or not for $1 million, a luxurious car or a racing motorbike.
McLoughlin additionally was identified for Dubai Obligation Free’s sponsorship of tennis and golf tournaments, in addition to his work supporting Dubai’s Irish group. He obtained the Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2014.
“Colm McLoughlin has been an integral a part of the Irish group within the UAE,” his award quotation learn. “Each in his extremely profitable skilled profession with Dubai Obligation Free and in his management roles throughout nearly each Irish group, Colm McLouglin has performed a vastly optimistic position within the promotion of Irish pursuits within the UAE.”
McLoughlin is survived by his spouse Breeda, son Niall, daughters Tyna and Mandy, and their households.