Alpha secures contract extension with Qantas

Tina Milton

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Alpha Airports Group has extended its contract with Qantas Airways to operate its inflight duty-free programme for a further six years.

Alpha Airports Group has extended its contract with Qantas Airways to operate its inflight duty-free programme for another six years. It secured the initial contract with the carrier on May 1 2004.

Meanwhile Alpha Flight Services, a division of Alpha Airports Group, has secured a deal to provide the catering and ancillary services for all of Air New Zealand’s Australian flights. The five-year contract will start on February 14 and will cover Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Cairns.

Over the past three years, Alpha has doubled the size of its Australian business through contracts with Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Air Tahiti Nui and Royal Brunei Airlines in addition to some of the Pacific Island carriers such as Solomon Airlines and Air Vanuatu.

Alpha Airports Group CEO Peter Williams said: “We are delighted to be working with Air New Zealand as its style of operation fits perfectly with our own. This is a key geographical area for Alpha where we have scale and we are extremely pleased with the successes that we have achieved to date.”

In other catering news Alpha’s joint venture with Servair, Servair Airchef, is to acquire Ligabue Group’s Marco Polo catering units at Verona and Venice airports. The purchase is expected to add about €2m ($2.59m) to Alpha’s annual sales.

Servair Airchef provides inflight catering services from 23 airports across Italy. In addition, it operates 13 bars and 11 restaurants and food outlets at airports in Italy.

At present Servair Airchef provides catering in Venice and Verona for Alitalia, AirOne, Alpi Eagles, Air France, Eurofly and Neos. The new contract will allow the company to expand into Ligabue’s broader customer base to include Delta Air Lines, US Airways, Lufthansa and Iberia.