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Michael Geoghegan |
IRELAND. It is with regret that we report the passing of Michael “˜Mick’ Geoghegan, a pioneering figure in the travel retail industry through his work with Aer Rianta and Aer Rianta International (ARI). He died in Dublin last night after an illness.
He will be greatly missed by sons Barry, Niall and Conor and their mother Sheila; by his partner Marjorie and her family; and by his sisters Betty, Marese and Rosaleen and their families, as well as his grand-children, daughters-in-law and many other family members and friends.
He will repose in Staffords funeral home in Portmarnock, Dublin, from 14.30 until 16.30 on Saturday 4 October, before removal at 17.00 to Saint Sylvesters Church in Malahide. Funeral mass takes place next Monday 6 October at 10.00 am in Saint Sylvesters Church Malahide, with burial afterwards to the family plot at Coosan Cemetery, Athlone, County Westmeath.
Mick Geoghegan had a profound influence on the expansion of ARI overseas and spearheaded the company’s involvement in the Middle East, its largest region of operations today. He was also one of the pioneers that left Ireland on a six-month consultancy to help Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation create a duty free business in 1983 – which led to the establishment of Dubai Duty Free.
He was the Aer Rianta group’s first Business Development Manager in the early 1980s, tasked with leveraging the expertise of the Irish state-owned group in new projects, of which Dubai was one.
After that, it became clear that the Middle East was ripe for opportunity, as he explained to The Moodie Report in The World Rovers, a 2007 book dedicated to the Irish influence on the industry worldwide.
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Michael Geoghegan with son Barry, who runs his own business representing brands in the travel retail industry |
He said: “The opportunity was always apparent to me. Duty free was founded in Ireland, it was a proven success, so why shouldn’t the Irish be the ones to spread that gospel?
“It was very important that we were a state agency, and to a lesser extent that we didn’t have a colonial past when going into some emerging countries.”
A feasibility study on the development of Bahrain Airport brought Mick Geoghegan to the Gulf again in 1990, where a deal was struck for ARI to design, build and operate the shops. “I was introduced to Abdulla Buhindi (later Chairman of ARI-Middle East) and his partners,” he said. “They were very astute businesspeople and a great support in those early days.”
He stayed on to manage the Bahrain Duty Free business for four years before handing over to John Sutcliffe, who became Managing Director of ARI-Middle East.
“Establishing that Bahrain base was a huge step,” said Mick Geoghegan in The World Rovers. “It laid the groundwork for expansion elsewhere, and it wasn’t long before we initiated contact with airports or retailers in Kuwait and Doha, which eventually paid off.”
He also later helped ARI enter the China market, where the Irish company struck a deal to partner with Beijing Airport and China National Duty Free Merchandise Corp in the 1990s.
He was one of the most travelled of all the early ARI pioneers, noting that he went to 88 countries on behalf of the company.
“I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said, “and the people that followed built on that start to create a terrific Irish empire.”
Mick Geoghegan’s son Barry is well known today in travel retail for his agency and distribution business.
Our condolences go to all of Mick Geoghegan’s family and friends.
