INTERNATIONAL. Compass Group says it plans to develop its inflight business in two key regional areas – Europe and the Rest of the World (particularly China, India, Russia and the Middle East).
In April Compass Group In-flight opened two units in the Netherlands, continuing its approach of establishing operations in strategic bases that offer a complete service to airlines from their home base.
In spite of the negative trends in the airline sector caused by many airlines drastically decreasing their inflight services, the company said it has successfully maintained revenues by:
• Developing sales and signing long-term contracts
• Acquiring new customers
• Launching a revolutionary inflight retail concept called gusto+ last October in Cannes. Gusto+ offers a range of items for sale onboard, including quality fresh food, beverages and gifts – all of them well-known brands
• Offering the Global Management Solution ILC (In-flight Logistics Company). ILC offers airlines the option of a total outsourcing of onboard services through the concept of cost per passenger monitoring.
• Structuring the inflight area by offering four different and complementary products to the airlines.
These are:
– In-flight Logistics Company (ILC)
– Gusto + for retail services.
– Eurest In-flight Services/Catering Aerien for traditional Catering
– Air CPU: another Compass member company, dedicated to the production of frozen hot meal entrees.
Background: Compass Group is the tenth biggest company worldwide and the largest foodservice company in the world with more than 400.000 employees working in over 98 different countries. Compass Group has annual foodservice revenues of over £11.6 billion per year. Compass Group In-Flight currently operates in 72 business units worldwide.
