SWITZERLAND. gategroup today announced the renewal and expansion of its contracts with key clients easyJet and airberlin.
European airline easyJet has extended its contract with gategroup through 2022, an additional three years beyond the original expiration date. gategroup will continue managing easyJet’s end-to-end retail programme and provisioning crew catering across the airline’s entire network.
airberlin, the second largest airline in Germany, has extended and expanded its partnership with gategroup for four years until the end of 2020. gategroup will continue to provide catering and provisioning for the airline’s onboard service, and has extended its scope to include the retail of food & beverage and duty free items.
gategroup has also expanded its long-haul catering business to serve all airberlin flights inbound to Germany from the USA.
Combined, easyJet and airberlin serve over 100 million passengers per year on about 400 aircraft. Both airlines are currently among gategroup’s top 20 customers in terms of annual revenue, with the total value of the combined agreements estimated to exceed CHF250 million (US$255 million) in revenue per year.
gategroup CEO Xavier Rossinyol said, “A defining component of gategroup’s Gateway 2020 strategy has been our emphasis on retail, combining innovation, technology, and culinary and operational expertise to earn and retain long-term partnerships. We are very pleased to continue our collaboration with top customers easyJet and airberlin, creating value for their passengers while also simplifying onboard retail processes.
“As we continue our respective work together, we will introduce new realms of retail that spark the imagination, create brand loyalty and generate additional revenue.”
As reported, HNA subsidiary HNA (Hong Kong) Air Catering Holding Co swooped earlier this year for gategroup in a US$1.5 billion acquisition. Chinese authorities approved the move in May. HNA Group is a privately owned Fortune Global 500 Corporation headquartered in Haikou, Hainan Island, China with operations in the aviation sector, infrastructure and real estate, financial services, tourism (including duty free retailing) and logistics. It controls Haikou Meilan Airport Duty Free Shop, which offers highly successful offshore duty free shopping to Chinese travellers at Haikou Meilan International Airport on Hainan Island.
