Industry Update JET2


GATEGOURMET/SKYGOURMET DEUTSCHE BAHN


Tall persons club


UK low-fare leisure airline Jet2.com, based at Leeds-Bradford airport, recently welcomed the Tall Persons Club of Great Britain and Ireland to experience its new seating design, for feedback from a club whose average male height is 6ft 5in. For summer 2011 all Jet2.com aircraft will feature innovative ergonomically designed seating. The seats have been sculpted to increase knee and leg room, allowing passengers to stretch their legs out, and are thinner to create more space between the seat in front, enough to accommodate the tallest traveller. Each of the airline’s Boeing 757 aircraft have already been refitted with the new seats, and the fleet of 737s is currently being refitted, with all to be completed by May 2011. Louise Ross-Foden, 6ft 3in club director, commented: “We have tried in vain to talk to many airlines since the club started in 1992, as travelling can be so difficult when you are above average height. Knowing we can travel comfortably on the Jet2.com aircraft will open up a whole new world of destinations for us.” Andrew Smith, a 6ft 6in member of the club, added: “the new seat design means we can genuinely fit our legs in and also use the tray which has previously been difficult, if not impossible, on some planes.” An additional benefit of the new Jet2.com seats is that they are lighter: approximate average weight reduction per aircraft is 400 kilos. With 34 aircraft flying an average of three return sectors per day, this represents a daily weight saving of over 40,000 tonnes, which reduces fuel burn considerably. www.jet2.com


Jet2 gives tall people some leg room 8 www.onboardhospitality.com


Indian gourmet


Gate Gourmet’s joint venture agreement with India Hospitality Corp (IHC) gives it a majority interest in Skygourmet, a major airline caterer in India with a presence in seven major cities. Skygourmet has a production capacity of more


than 110,000 meals per day and is the only caterer with facilities at all six of India’s major airports. It operates in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad and is in the process of constructing a new unit in Kolkata. In Pune, Skygourmet has a franchise arrangement. Gategroup describes the transaction as a major move into the Asian market and a strategic breakthrough into the world’s second-fastest growing economy where airline traffic has been increasing at an average of about 20 per cent a year. Under the terms of the deal gategroup has a 74 percent interest in Skygourmet, with IHC retaining the remainder of the shares. A new advisory board will oversee the joint venture. Board members for gategroup include ceo Guy Dubois and Mike Pooley, group vp and president Asia Pacific; and IHC’s promoter directors Ravi Deol and Sandeep Vyas. Said Guy Dubois: “The Skygourmet acquisition


fits perfectly with our growth strategy and with our objective to add to shareholder value by increasing gategroup’s presence in emerging markets.” IHC md and ceo Ravi Deol described the deal as a win-win situation for both companies. Gate Gourmet already has a unit in Goa, which it acquired in 2007. www.gategroup.com, www.indiahospitalitycorp.com


High speed rail network for Europe


Germany Railways’ DB long distance services now feature around 220 high-speed trains daily to 80 European cities in six countries: Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. The services are used by more than 40,000 passengers a day. Over the next few years, Deutsche Bahn intends to expand the international network even further. The plans include rollout of regular services between Germany, the Netherlands and London as from December 2013. Three pairs of trains a day will then run return services between Frankfurt and London via Cologne, Brussels and Lille. There will also be a service from Amsterdam to London via Rotterdam and Brussels. The journey from Cologne to London is expected to take less than four hours and from Frankfurt to London just over five hours. Passengers from Amsterdam will be able to reach the British capital in less than four hours. These routes will use the ICE 3 Class 407 with a top speed of 320 km/h. It has ordered 15 trains from Siemens. Since the rollout of Franco-German high-speed services in June 2007, roughly four million passengers have travelled on the Frankfurt–Paris and Munich–Stuttgart–Paris lines. On the Stuttgart–Paris route, rail has already pushed ahead of air travel with a market share of 59 per cent. About every third person travelling between Frankfurt (Main) and Paris now opts to travel by rail. A rail passenger can travel from city centre to city centre in the same time as someone who flies, generating 80 per cent less carbon emissions. www.deutschebahn.com


Skygourmet is a major player in India Deutsche Bahn expands its network. Frankfurt skyline.


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