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Podcast „Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“
Episode #65 | Max Heinemann of Gebr. Heinemann: How people shop at the airport and the role of geopolitics in duty-free shopping
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Podcast episode 65
Max Heinemann of Gebr. Heinemann: How people shop at the airport and the role of geopolitics in duty-free shopping
Max Heinemann, Co-CEO of Gebr. Heinemann
Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episode description
Gebr. Heinemann operates shops at airports around the world – in Istanbul, Sydney and Oslo, among others. At Heinemann, you'll find cigarettes and spirits, chocolate and cosmetics. The company also works with luxury brands such as Hermès and Bulgari, running boutiques on their behalf. Shops on cruise ships and at border crossings are part of the business too. "Ultimately, we are a logistics specialist," says Max Heinemann, who leads the Hamburg-based family business – now almost 150 years old – as its fifth generation.
Airports account for more than 72 percent of Heinemann's revenue, which reached €4.7 billion in 2025. "At Istanbul Airport alone, we generate one billion euros in revenue. For many people, that sounds absurd," says Heinemann. Gebr. Heinemann co-invested in the construction of Istanbul Airport. "We have a center management contract there and handle everything that happens after immigration and security – except food and beverage."
The business of Gebr. Heinemann is also a seismograph for the world's crises: whether a pandemic, the war in Ukraine or conflict in the Middle East – when fewer people fly or routes are suspended, it shows up immediately in airport shops. "We feel the uncertainties of the travel market very strongly," says Heinemann. "Geopolitics has always had a major impact on our business." Yet even in times of crisis, business goes on. "People still fly. One way or another, they find their way from A to B," says Heinemann. "But the more expensive everything gets, the more we feel it in our stores." Heinemann also talks about impulse purchases of whisky worth tens of thousands of euros – and reveals which product sells best at German airport shops. All this in the podcast "Alles neu..? Aus dem Maschinenraum" with Tobias Rappers and Katja Michel.
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Max Heinemann
Max Heinemann is the owner and Co-CEO of Gebr. Heinemann. He oversees Corporate Communications & External Affairs, People & Culture, Design Innovation, and the Vision Hub GHARAGE. Before Max Heinemann was appointed to the management board of Gebr. Heinemann in 2018, he played a key role starting in 2010 in establishing the subsidiary Heinemann Asia Pacific in Singapore, which he led as CEO beginning in 2014. Prior to that, he developed the market entry strategy for Heinemann Duty Free at the Hamburg headquarters. Max Heinemann studied at BES LaSalle University in Barcelona.
About the Podcast
How can the origin and future of Mittelstand companies be courageously united? What are the challenges facing family businesses and what experiences do they gather in digital transformation? These questions are answered by “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“, the interview podcast for German Mittelstand*. Once a month, Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Nils Kreimeier, Senior Editor of the business magazine Capital, talk to thought leaders and makers from the heart of the German economy and focus on the personalities and their motivation. *The podcast is in German.
For more episodes of “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“ please click here!
