Aer Rianta International (Middle East) has appointed former LFP – Lojas Francas de Portugal Managing Director, Nuno Amaral, to the position of General Manager Operations at ARIME based in Bahrain.

LFP is the airport retail joint-venture between TAP Portugal and The Nuance Group, (the latter soon to be absorbed into Dufry), where Amaral was at the helm for seven years and increased revenue by +50% over six of them.

ARIME says the appointment is an important strategic one. Amaral will be charged with leading ARI’s Middle East operation to drive sales, financial growth and stability and embed a culture of continuous performance improvement.

As well as his LFP experience in Portugal, Amaral spent more than a decade in different management roles at Unilever. Commenting on the appointment – Aer Rianta International (Middle East) Chief Executive, Philip Eckles, says: “We are very pleased to welcome an experienced retailer such as Nuno to ARIME to take on this challenging role and I’m sure that he will build on the initiatives which are already well underway in the ARI Group.”