Colm McLoughlin, Irishman that led Dubai Duty Free to come to be an airport terminal retail titan, passes away at age 81 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)– Colm McLoughlin, an Irishman that landed in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates and assisted lead Dubai Duty Free right into coming to be an airport terminal retail leviathan producing billions of bucks, has actually passed away. He was 81.

McLoughlin ran Dubai Duty Free from 1983 up until he retired previously this year, a period of over 40 years that saw Dubai expand from a creekside trading port right into a modern metropolis, home to the globe’s highest structure and various other tourist attractions.

And all the numerous guests entering into Dubai International Airport, now the world’s busiest for international travel, saw the rows of electronic devices, cigarettes, stogies, alcohol and various other items offered duty-free at his shops, hawked by a salesforce in environment-friendly fit coats, yellow connections and talking in numerous languages.

“It’s a very Middle Eastern kind of thing,” McLoughlin informed the Los Angeles Times in 1987 as he flaunted its gold market. “We have to cater to a lot of tastes.”

Dubai Duty Free claimed in a declaration that McLoughlin passed away Wednesday after a brief ailment, without specifying. The procedure’s brand-new handling supervisor, Ramesh Cidambi, applauded McLoughlin for guiding its “growth to a $2 billion dollar business with over 6,000 employees at the time of his retirement.”

Sheikh Ahmed container Saeed Al Maktoum, the chief executive officer of long-haul provider Emirates and chairman of Dubai Duty Free, provided his acknowledgements.

“His passion, commitment and pioneering spirit have left a lasting legacy,” Sheikh Ahmed said in a post on the social platform X.

Born in Ballinasloe, Ireland, in 1943, McLoughlin joined Shannon Airport’s first-in-the-world duty-free operation in 1969. In July 1983, he came with a 10-man team to Dubai to set up the sandy airport’s duty-free operation. His six-month contract ended up stretching into 40 years.

Like the rest of the aviation industry, Dubai Duty Free took a hit during the years of the coronavirus pandemic and airline groundings. But sales have since bounced back. In 2023 alone, under McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free sold 6 million cans of beer, 2.3 million bottles of whiskey, 2.3 million cartons of cigarettes, 10.2 million cigars and 3.3 million bottles of perfume.

One big segment has been Chinese travelers, after Dubai Duty Free worked to accept their credit cards, had staff speaking Mandarin and put in goods they wanted.

“We would be silly if we didn’t take advantage of it and try to serve them,” McLoughlin informed The Associated Press in 2012.

And many a bleary-eyed traveler in Dubai’s cavernous airport tried their luck at the constant raffles being offered, whether for $1 million, a luxury automobile or a racing motorcycle.

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