DHL wins contract to handle BA’s catering business

Global – DHL will handle all short haul and domestic catering services for British Airways (BA) in London, the first logistics service provider to land an entire in-flight service deal by an airline.

"This is absolutely a logistics issue," says Chris Jackson, global VP of airline logistics at DHL Exel Supply Chain and main engineer behind the BA-DHL deal. "The basic principle is still to make sure the food gets to the right place at the right time and to the right customer."

The multi-million pound deal was signed in London and will see DHL handling in-flight services from kitchen to cabin. This involves transporting up to 13 million meals per annum, in-flight retail and in-flight media and all items for passenger in-flight comfort, the company said.

Jackson adds that a typical Boeing 747 flight requires approximately 40,000 different in-flight services items, making the supply chain behind the delivery of these items a critical one where "the cost of getting that wrong is massive".

The 10-year contract will come into effect in April 2010.  DHL will partner Northern Foods, who will be responsible for preparing in-flight meals.

Jackson said the company competed with 31 other bids for the tender, and believes the company won the bid on its strategies to take cost out of the BA's catering supply chain. 

Simon Soni, general manager of catering operations at BA believes the partnership with DHL and Northern Foods will better service quality and increase supply chain efficiency.

The contract is also an open book one, where BA will have access to DHL's entire cost structure for the partnership. "It gives us [DHL] commercial credibility," says Jackson. "It is also very important for customers. This way, BA can see exactly where they can make investments and changes."