Qantas To Sell Catering Business To Dnata

Qantas has agreed to sell its catering business to dnata, as the Emirates Group unit continues its expansion in Australia.

Financial terms of the agreement were not released, but the deal includes 1,200 Qantas employees moving over to dnata following the completion of the sale. Dnata will supply catering on Qantas flights for an initial period of ten years.

The agreement is subject to the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

“We’ve always said that we would explore the sale of certain assets where it makes sense,” Andrew David, chief executive of Qantas Domestic said. “The catering businesses will benefit significantly from dnata’s global footprint.”

Qantas’s catering businesses include Q Catering and Snap Fresh. Q Catering operates food preparation centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Snap Fresh, based in Queensland, produces frozen meals for a number of airlines and other industries.

Dnata provides catering, cargo and ground handling services in 84 countries and employs over 4000 people in Australia and 39,000 worldwide. It currently supplies catering for Qantas flights from Adelaide, Canberra, London and Johannesburg.