{"id":378779,"date":"2026-04-02T20:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378779\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:15:12","slug":"irelands-ari-wins-jfk-airport-duty-free-contract-in-first-us-venture-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/378779\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s ARI wins JFK airport duty free contract in first US venture \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARI, the retail business <\/a>of State airports operator DAA, has won a contract with its partners to manage duty-free shops in New York John F Kennedy International Airport\u2019s busiest terminal, in the Irish company\u2019s first US venture.<\/p>\n

ARI, its partner International Shoppes and a group of local enterprises plan to invest $50 million (\u20ac43 million) on the duty-free and retail concessions in JFK\u2019s terminal four, which handles 28 million passengers a year.<\/p>\n

The group recently won a long-term contract to manage nine outlets with 2,500sq m of retail space across the terminal from its operator, the Schiphol Airport-owned company, International Airport Terminals (IAT).<\/p>\n

The deal is part of International Airport Terminals\u2019 $1.5 billion plan to overhaul the terminal, which is JFK\u2019s busiest. It is the first such contract that ARI has won in the US, according to the Irish company<\/a>\u2019s chief executive, Ray Hernan.<\/p>\n

ARI already manages duty-free and travel retail businesses in 26 locations across 12 countries, including Canada, and had been aiming to get into the US for some time, Hernan said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another flag in the ground,\u201d he added. \u201cWe operate in a very competitive landscape and these wins do not come easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

ARI and its partners cut the ribbon on the new venture in JFK on Thursday. Hernan noted that they had just weeks to prepare for the official opening after winning the contract.<\/p>\n

The business <\/a>turns over $100 million a year. ARI and International Shoppes have a brief to reshape the retail businesses to reflect New York City and its vibrancy and diversity, Hernan explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerminal four is the gateway to New York for many people and it\u2019s their last experience leaving the city,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

The consortium will spend about $50 million on this over a period of years, Hernan confirmed.<\/p>\n

While the JFK business is significant in its own right, Hernan says ARI hopes the deal will give the Irish business a platform from which it can win further contracts in the US.<\/p>\n

\"\"Iran\u2019s cyber-attacks on Irish-based companies and the ongoing impact of conflict in the Middle East<\/p>\n

International Shoppes, which is joining forces with ARI in JFK terminal four Retail Partners LLC, is a New York-based duty-free and luxury retail business that works with high-profile global brands and small businesses.<\/p>\n

A group of local enterprises, known as designated business entities, are joining the partnership. Many are from Queens, the New York borough where JFK is located.<\/p>\n

They include: Neir\u2019s Tavern, one of the oldest pubs in the US; Ben Crump Enterprises, a company founded by civil rights attorney Ben Crump; and Byrd Retail Group, which has years of experience in JFK and Queens, along with several others.<\/p>\n

DAA deputy chief executive Nick Cole said ARI\u2019s contract win was \u201cno small feat\u201d. He added that it extended ARI\u2019s North American presence from Canada to the United States, and planted a flag for both that company and DAA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARI, the retail business of State airports operator DAA, has won a contract with its partners to manage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[169366,79684,169365,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-378779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aer-rianta","tag-ari","tag-duty-free","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}