FOCUS ON Bangkok Air Catering Boutique business model
Nikos Loukas of Inflight Feed meets Linus Knobel, md of Bangkok Air Catering (BAC), to find out how this boutique airline catering company is giving its competitors a run for their money
I
t's no wonder that this boutique airline and inflight catering operation recently won the Skytrax ‘Best
Regional Airline’ award for 2014. Bangkok Airways passengers can enjoy
access to free lounges scattered across Thailand, regardless of travel class, and Business passengers can dine on meals that were co-created with the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui and the Chedi Chiang Mai. Based at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport,
BAC was founded 10 years ago to provide inflight meal innovations, lounge catering and inflight catering on Bangkok Airways’ flights. BAC also serves a customer list of over 20 airlines from around the globe, including three major Middle Eastern airlines, which itself says a lot about the quality and standards that it offers. “It's not just about the quality of food or the service levels that we provide our customers, it's also about our people," says Linus. “Our employees are very important to us, we support them and have a welfare committee." In 2011, 220 of Linus’s 800 employees were affected by the devastating floods which affected Bangkok. BAC immediately offered support and assistance to any staff member who needed it. It's this type of support and working environment that has kept retention levels high and has ensured there are no major changes in management. BAC currently serves
more than 120 aircraft daily – and three daily A380 services. However, capacity is at an all-time high and the company is looking to expand even further: “We are actually over capacity at the moment, producing 25,000 meals per day; however, with improvements we will be able to increase this figure by 10,000 meals a day,” says Knobel. BAC is currently catering Oman Air, Emirates, Qatar Airways,
Turkish Airlines and its latest addition, Garuda Indonesia, out of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is also supplying food requirements for Oman Air and Emirates lounges at the airport and Kosher meals for customers around the globe as far afield as Germany, India and across Asia.
Above: BAC is producing top quality catering for some of the world's leading airlines Below: It's not just about the food but it's also about the people, says Linus.
Trained to Chef de Partie level, BAC
chefs come from across the globe including India, Lebanon, China and Europe. Local chefs have trained at 5 star resorts in Thailand or come from other airline caterers in the area. Of the company’s future plans, Linus
said: “We are evaluating options within Thailand and will soon be announcing some exciting new developments."
bangkokaircatering.com
Profile
Bangkok Air Catering is a world-class facility based at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Catering services include airline catering, VIP lounge catering, private jet and charter. The facility features a Halal kitchen, a Kosher kitchen and a small non-Halal kitchen.
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