Qantas reached (11-Apr-2018) an agreement with dnata, a part of the Emirates Group, under which dnata will acquire the airline's catering businesses. Under the agreement, dnata will supply catering for Qantas flights for an initial period of 10 years, and Qantas will continue to work with key suppliers in menu design and development. Details include:
- Qantas' catering businesses include wholly-owned subsidiaries Q Catering Limited and Snap Fresh Pty Limited, (together, Qantas Catering Group);
- Q Catering has centres in four Australian cities - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth - with its largest airline customer being Qantas;
- Snap Fresh is a meal production plant in Queensland, specialising in Australian-made frozen meals for airlines and customers in the healthcare and food retail industries;
- Approximately 1,200 employees of Qantas' catering businesses will become part of the dnata operation following completion of the sale;
- dnata operates 11 catering facilities in Australia, trading under the dnata catering brand (recently rebranded from Alpha Flight Services). dnata employs more than 4000 people in Australia across its catering, cargo and ground handling businesses;
- dnata's divisional SVP of catering Robin Padgett commented: "This agreement reflects our confidence in Australia as a market and the ongoing growth potential into the future". Mr Padgett said that combining dnata's "network strength and international talent" with Qantas' domestic catering expertise, will allow the company to "further grow our presence and deliver catering excellence to more customers across Australia than ever before";
- Qantas will continue to work with key suppliers in menu design and development.
- dnata currently supplies catering for Qantas Group flights in Adelaide, Canberra, London and Johannesburg;
- dnata plans to invest in more infrastructure, starting with a new catering facility in Sydney;
- Conditions: The agreement is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David commented: "The catering businesses will benefit significantly from dnata's global footprint, catering expertise, and ability to drive investment and growth for what is a core focus of its operation". [more - original PR - dnata] more - original PR - Qantas] [more - original PR]