IRELAND. Senior leaders from across Aer Rianta International’s (ARI) global estate gathered in Dublin this week for a two-day, future-focused conference led by Chief Executive Officer Ray Hernan.
The conference was hosted at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on 18-19 October, and marked the first in-person gathering of ARI’s wider senior team since before the pandemic hit in 2020.
The conference’s theme of ‘Connecting for future success’ set the tone for a range of engaging discussions on the company’s strategic plans. Colleagues travelled to Ireland from all markets ARI serves, including Canada, Barbados, Portugal, Montenegro, Cyprus, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, India, and New Zealand.
Opening the conference, Hernan focused on the importance of collaboration, strengthening partnerships, and pursuing new opportunities for growth. The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt then hosted a panel discussion (including a series of presentations) on the wider industry outlook. Speakers included Helen McDermott, a Lead Economist within Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company; m1nd-set Founder & CEO Peter Mohn; Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail General Manager EMEA & Pacific Antonio Duva and The Estée Lauder Companies Vice President and General Manager, Travel Retail Europe, Middle East and Africa Umair Ansari.
ARI teams also discussed the recalibrated Customer Value Proposition (CVP) and some of the initiatives underway across the global estate. Following its strategic development in 2020, 63 initiatives were identified and have been actioned under the new CVP strategy across all ARI locations.
Attendees also previewed ARI’s new brand strategy, including a fresh identity to be unveiled in Q1 2023. This new “future-focused brand maintains the integrity and authenticity fundamental to ARI while injecting an invigorated energy to strengthen the business’s emotional connection to its customers,” the company said.
Ray Hernan commented, “After a challenging two years for the industry, it has been hugely rewarding to have representatives of all our locations gathered under one roof to discuss how, collectively, we will drive our business forward. We are confident that our business is best placed to further enhance our current offerings and we are focused on several new opportunities for strategic growth. I would like to thank all our colleagues who have travelled from across the world to join us for these past few days – you can always expect a Céad Míle Fáilte [100,000 welcomes -Ed] at ARI.”
