Qantas makes way for long-haul flights by selling its catering division

Melbourne, Australia - May 26, 2017: Qantas A380 airplane docked for loading luggage and catering at Melbourne Airport.

Looks like we’ll all be going hungry on our next Qantas flight.

Just kidding… But they have decided to sell their catering business to Emirates Group business, dnata in to help put more money towards their long-haul flight program.

To be honest, we’d much rather have our own caterer than a 17-hour flight but each to their own.

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Approximately 1,200 employees of Qantas’ catering businesses will become part of the dnata operation after the sale is complete.

However, it still has to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

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 ports – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Snap Fresh is a state-of-the-art meal production plant in Queensland, specialising in Australian-made frozen meals for a number of airlines as well as customers in the healthcare and food retail industries.

According to Qantas Domestic CEO, Andrew David, the sale would enable Qantas to partner with a global leader in in-flight catering and prioritise investing in the airline.

“We’ve always said that we would explore the sale of certain assets where it makes sense, just as we’ve done before, including with the sale of our catering facility in Cairns and Qantas Defence Services,” said David.

“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.”

The sale will see the Qantas Catering Group form part of dnata’s Australian operations.

dnata’s Divisional Senior Vice President of catering, Robin Padgett said: “This agreement reflects our confidence in Australia as a market and the ongoing growth potential into the future.”

“By combining dnata’s network strength and international talent with Qantas’ domestic catering expertise, this will allow us to further grow our presence and deliver catering excellence to more customers across Australia than ever before. This includes investing in more infrastructure, starting with a new catering facility in Sydney.”

“We look forward to the opportunity to welcome the employees from Qantas’ in-flight catering businesses to the dnata team.”

Under the agreement, dnata will supply catering for Qantas flights for an initial period of ten years, and Qantas will continue to work with key suppliers in menu design and development.

“Customers will continue to enjoy Qantas’ premium service, including unique Rockpool-designed menus for First and Business passengers, showcasing the best of Australian produce for millions of travellers each year,” David added.

“Together with dnata, we’ll continue to deliver the in-flight food and beverage experience we know our customers value, just as we work with catering companies in offshore ports for our international flights.”

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

    Latest comments
    1. That’s a shame. I travelled last year to Bangkok with both Qantas and Emirates and I must say the food from Qantas was so much better.

    2. I hope the food improves, as Qantas would is way below par compared to other similar airlines!

      Both economy and business. Totally disappointed.

Dnata emirates q catering qantas snap fresh

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