Inflight caterer TajSATS has signed a concession agreement on Thursday for the development of an in-flight kitchen facility at the upcoming Noida International Airport (NIA).
TajSATS will develop the in-flight kitchen facility on a design, finance, build, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model for a period of 37 years, according to the agreement.
The mandate will include passenger and crew meal services, in-flight catering equipment handling, loading and unloading of meals, it added.
TajSATS CEO Manish Gupta said marquee developments such as Noida International Airport present a tremendous growth opportunity for airline catering.
"TajSATS with its strong network and market leadership will deliver a premium in-flight and lounge catering, leveraging its four decades of experience. This signing strengthens our presence in Delhi NCR as this will be the second facility in the region," Gupta said in an official statement.
Strategically located within the airport, the state-of-the-art kitchen will be spread over 40,000 sq. ft and is equipped to serve over 15,000 meals a day in the initial phase, according to the statement.
The kitchen will also be equipped to serve the lounge facilities and the food and beverage outlets inside the airport, as well as in its proximity.
With the addition of this facility TajSATS will have nine production facilities in India, it added.
Noida International Airport CEO Christoph Schnellmann said the partnership is a key milestone towards developing a modern, consumer-centric culinary experience for our customers.
"We believe meals are an integral part of a distinguished in-flight and airport experience. TajSATS comes with a vast experience in serving numerous airports and we feel that their offering will synergize with ours to provide a thorough world-class experience to our customers," Schnellmann said.
TajSATS Air Catering Ltd is a joint venture of The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and SATS Ltd. It has over four decades of experience in airline catering and is also a leading player in commercial catering.
The company provides in-flight catering at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Amritsar, Goa and Bangalore, the statement added.
