Caterer, airline partners in Turkey

Shortly after winning the tender to cater Turkish Airlines at several locations in the country, Austrian caterer Do & Co and Turkish Airlines announced that it will together purchase the catering assets of the company that had previously supplied meals for the airline.

A joint venture called THY Do & Co Catering Service announced recently that it has bought the airline catering business of USAS, and its nine worksites that employ 1,400 people. According to the caterer, the new venture will generate between $62 million and $126 million in sales a year, doubling the revenue of the company’s airline catering division. The division is the fastest growing in the company’s operations, which generated nearly U.S. $95 million in its fiscal year 2005.

Work on the new agreements started in September, and last week the airline announced it had agreed to a deal that would turn over the USAS assets to a 50-50 joint venture between Do & Co and Turkish Airlines. According to news from the Turkish Airlines website, the two partners would pay USAS 68 million Turkish lira (US$48 million).

Turkish Airlines carried 14 million passengers last year, generating revenue of more than U.S. $2 billion.

In September, Turkish Airline announced plans to invest US$30 million to $40 million to establish its own catering company after the airline cancelled its recent tender in early August.