Special Report
“Emirates added on all segments of the operation at a time when everyone else was cutting back on expenses, frequencies, routes, destinations and aircraft”
helps in productivity (which is a huge change from my earlier scenario at SriLankan Catering) and helps in achieving the optimum.
Menu planning involves the whole team
else was cutting back on expenses, frequencies, routes, destinations and aircraft, it was adding on all segments of the operation. Today there are no A380s available to other customers ex-stock because EK has ordered the lot! 32 A380s were ordered at the Berlin Airshow recently and even Boeing has a tough job to deliver the 30 777s order placed by EK at the Farnborough Airshow in July 2010; with a huge earlier book order by EK at both manufacturers. EK is a great company to work with. The
airline is one of the only airlines that continues to expand even in not such good times. The people who run it are absolute professionals and extremely approachable. My equation is superb and that makes
the deliverables even more satisfying and motivating. The Dubai environment greatly
How does this massive growth affect EKFC, the home-based caterer? Dubai International airport, ground services and the catering unit are all racing to keep pace with the airline’s huge expansion plans. It is having a huge pull-on effect on the entire economy of Dubai. The hub-spoke concept of the airline is bringing about a complete revolution in the airline industry and establishing a model/matrix which a number of airlines are emulating. This obviously creates capacity issues at the catering unit. Having opened in July 2007 EKFC1 (new unit) which is exclusively dedicated to EK, has nearly reached its capacity and is in urgent need of expansion.
What future growth are you anticipating for your unit? We anticipate that by 2014, the current average of 100,000 meals for both the units combined will escalate to 200,000 meals per day. So in effect we need to double our capacity/facilities as soon as possible. We have already commissioned our consultants to come up with a feasibility study of the expansion plans required to cope with the huge fleet expansion and hope to have Board approval to go ahead with the same soon.
To give a semblance of the magnitude, today’s operation in itself is 50% ahead of the nearest next biggest single catering operation in the world in terms of singular facility.
How is the profitability of Emirates Flight Catering? During my tenure at Sri Lankan Catering, profits multiplied 10 times and my reputation preceded my arrival at EKFC. Things have already started looking up and we should be closing the books way ahead of last year. The advantage of having worked closely with
the EK management team for the last 11 years has greatly helped in achieving this impossible feat. The reporting authority is the same that constituted the Executive Board at SriLankan when it was under EK management. My move to EKFC was a natural progression and something I was looking forward to very eagerly.
Can you outline your day to day responsibilities? I oversee the flight kitchen with two units, EKFC1 having a capacity of 115,000 meals per day and EKFC2 capable of doing 50,000 meals per day. I am also responsible for Food Point, which
has the capacity for producing up to 110,000 meals a day. Linencraft is a laundry and dry cleaning facility with the capacity of processing up to 152 tons a day. We also manage the airport lounges at Dubai international airport and operate numerous food and beverage
www.onboardhospitality.com 15
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