Air and travel services provider dnata is opening the first catering facility at Sunshine Coast Airport after signing a multi-year contract with Bonza.
Bonza has brought in dnata to support its operations and services, including catering its 100% Australian on-demand menu featuring meals, beverages, and snacks.
Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines“dnata has played a key role in delivering the world’s first onboard menu entirely sourced from its home country, served on demand via the Fly Bonza app and delivered directly to customer’s seats,” said Carly Povey, Chief Commercial Officer at Bonza.
“The creation and delivery of our all-Aussie menu is no mean feat and has resulted in the first ever catering facility at Bonza’s backyard – Sunshine Coast Airport. We look forward to growing our onboard menu to take more great Aussie food and drink products to new heights.”
The new Sunshine Coast centre brings dnata Catering’s total number of facilities to 15. The firm – which is owned by Emirates Group, in turn owned by the state government of Dubai – provides in-flight catering and retail services to more than 40 airlines in Australia, including Qantas, and says it produced more than 50 million meals in the first six months of the 2022-23 financial year.
Hiranjan Aloysius, Chief Executive Officer of dnata Catering Australia, said dnata was “immensely honoured” to have been selected as Bonza’s inflight retail partner.
“Our innovative solutions, combined with our deep understanding of passenger needs, will ensure a memorable and unique inflight experience, helping the airline deliver on its ambitious growth plans,” said Aloysius.
“We are extremely honoured to be part of this historical moment in Australian aviation history and look forward to contributing to Bonza’s success.”
dnata has owned Qantas’ Q Catering and Snap Fresh businesses since the national carrier sold them in 2018 for an undisclosed sum. The company has also taken over many of Qantas’ ground handling operations alongside Swissport following a round of outsourcing in 2020, where more than 2,000 jobs were cut from the Flying Kangaroo.
The provider last year avoided industrial action from its ground handling staff after it agreed to a 12.6 per cent pay rise.
