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Gate Gourmet expands, deepens Middle East relations During ITCA Dubai, Gate Gourmet announced the establishment of a regional sales office in Dubai. "Travel to and from the Middle East is a rapidly growing market and we are eager to participate in the enormous opportunities the region presents," said David N. Siegel, chairman and CEO. "With business lines ranging from culinary expertise to sophisticated supply chain management to ramp services, we believe Gate Gourmet is well positioned to offer customers a complete portfolio of best-in-class solutions to support their business," he said. Recent activity with carriers from the region include successful bids for catering in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for Emirates' first route to Latin America, and a renewal of its business at London's Heathrow airport. Gate Gourmet also has won Qatar Airway’s business for its first route to Scandinavia at Stockholm, and caters its first route out of Newark Liberty International in the New York metropolitan area. Gate Gourmet partner companies deSter and its comfort item arm Harmony, also have a strong position in the region. Emirates, for instance, recently awarded a systemwide contract to supply passenger blankets to Harmony. Other major customers include Etihad, Saudi Arabian and Qatar Airways. To expand relationships in the Middle East, Gate Gourmet, which offers catering and provisioning services in nearly 100 airports across the globe, has opened its first regional office in Dubai, headed by Director of Sales and Business Development Jean Luc Gaignard. He is responsible for developing business opportunities with airlines in the region as well as establishing of joint ventures with local providers. He has more than two decades of experience in the airline catering industry. "The opening of our office and Gate Gourmet's hosting a booth at the Dubai ITCA show are concrete examples of the company's commitment to establish closer business ties in the Middle East. We are delighted to participate in this important regional industry program," Gaignard said. During the exhibition, the company also announced a strategic investment in Performa, a world leader in helping service-oriented companies design and deliver unique customer experiences. Based in Sydney and Bangkok, Performa has been working with airlines, luxury hotels, airports and retailers to improve service concepts and delivery and product strategies. Some of the Middle East's leading airlines are Performa clients. It also has created a separate unit, Elan, an institute for service education and a provider of cabin crew and service staff. The Gate Gourmet portfolio now includes cabin service ware (deSter); comfort/entertainment items (Harmony); packaged food components assembled in central production units (Supplair); aviation services such as cabin cleaning, aircraft washing and deicing and passenger services (Fernley/IAS); catering security (GateSafe); business applications (eGate Solutions); packaging (partnership with Packattack); and supply chain optimization (partnership with Pourshins). The group is also well positioned in the low cost carrier (LCC) segment in the U.S. and globally, with Tiger Airways in Australia and won the onboard food service and retail contract for easyJet in Europe from 1 November. In the charter airline business, Gate Gourmet announced December 27 that it had renewed a catering and provisioning services contract with MyTravel Airways of Scandinavia. “What we have been saying to the airlines of the region is that we have ‘best-in-class’ for all the solutions you want,” said Siegel. “This move in the Middle East is something we have been talking about for a number of years. Now that we have fixed the cost base and our core business, we are moving into a period of acquisitions.” PAX International also asked Siegel about the trend for airlines continually seeking out more complete end-to-end solutions, and how the company sees the low-cost model in the Middle East. “We see the Middle East as the same as Asia in many respects,” he said. “It is full service catering in the low-cost business model.” “Airlines are asking for total solutions, but what we stress to clients is that there is synergy. You can reduce costs and you can synchronize the brand elements, but without fragmented decision-making, and ultimately you get a better quality product.” “To do this we have to be ‘best in class’ – lowest cost, best value, highest quality – but we have the whole value chain to be able to achieve it.” Gate Gourmet has its sights set particularly on the home base stations of airlines, which are growing to truly world-class size and status in the Middle East. In the outlying regional airports, it sees opportunities more for airlines seeking a quick turnaround, with one supplier handling all the elements. Taking India’s Jet Airways as an example, and its decision to hub in Brussels International Airport, for its European operations, some of the drivers of the inflight services industry become clear. “They wanted to grow fast without building all the necessary inflight elements,” said Gate Gourmet Group Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Office, Guy Dubois. “On the ramp, it is so congested these days. With just one service element, you have faster turnaround, better security and lower cost. We have proved to airlines that we have all the elements that you need, whether you are premium or economy, legacy or LCC.” “Europe was built in an era where you didn’t have to think about these extremely large airport complexes,” said Siegel. “Now for the Middle East, for routes from India, China, Australia, it is a very direct routing. The Asia hubs have a place too and it is a question of how many of these [mega hubs] will be sustained. But what is impressive about this region, is that there is a real strategic vision, on both the aircraft side and on the airport infrastructure side.” —Trevor Lloyd-Jones |
