UAE: Emirates Flight Catering Builds Facility Offering Inflight Catering Services For Private Aviation

Dubai South, previously known as Dubai World Central, has announced the signing of an agreement with Emirates Flight Catering to build a facility offering inflight catering services for private aviation.

Under the agreement, EKFC will build the facility with exclusivity in providing inflight catering and support services to private and business flights operating at Dubai South, a statement said.

The alliance comes in context of several aviation-related facilities that are being developed at Dubai South, including the VIP Terminal, maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) hangars, aircraft fit-out and painting facilities, and the establishment of fixed-base operators, it added.

Khalifa AlZaffin, executive chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation, the parent organisation of Dubai South, said: "Traditionally, the demands of business aviation passengers for food are highly bespoke and catering companies are unable to meet these very specific requirements.

"Given the expected business aviation traffic and our vision of creating a world class aviation hub at Dubai South, we have awarded the contract to Emirates Flight Catering Company to provide dedicated executive in-flight catering services for General Aviation within the Aviation District to meet current and potential future catering demand of all FBOs."

It is expected that the majority of the business jet operations will relocate to Al Maktoum International Airport which is forecasted to see double digit growth over the coming years, leading to almost 18,000 annual movements by 2018.

Saeed Mohammed, CEO, Emirates Flight Catering, added: "We are very proud to collaborate with Dubai South and to create a new, exclusive facility which will contribute to the expansion and success of Dubai South.

"With three decades of experience in servicing private VIP flights, Emirates Flight Catering's contribution will put Dubai on the map as a private aviation hub - one which other hubs, such as Cannes, London and Geneva, will undoubtedly look to for inspiration."

Dubai South - the rebranded Dubai World Central - is an emerging 145 square km city situated within Dubai that will ultimately sustain a population of one million.

UAE: Al Maktoum Airport Works Preparation Work For Emirates' Move

Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport will begin the preparations next year for Emirates Airlines to move operations there in about a decade, an airport official said on Wednesday.

"By next year, we will do a lot of preparations," Khalifa Zaffin, executive chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation, Dubai South told reporters when asked about construction at the new airport that would allow Emirates Airlines to move its hub.

The passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International, Dubai South was launched in October 2013. But only four airlines have started flights from the new airport, with most opting to stay at the busy Dubai International, clustering around Emirates and where existing traffic is.

Emirates, the world's fourth largest airline by scheduled international passengers, meanwhile is facing capacity constraints at Dubai International despite runway upgrades last year to increase efficiency.

President Tim Clark last year said Emirates would take up vacated space at Terminal 1 as the new Concourse D is launched.

Dubai Airports officials said construction of the concourse has just finished and the testing phase will now be launched.

Initially planned for summer 2015, Concourse D from Terminal 1 may be ready in the first quarter of 2016 and be able to handle operations of about a 100 airlines.

"People want to be there (Dubai International) because they can make connections and everyone is there," Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports said on why airlines are reluctant to move to the new Al Maktoum International airport.

"Now those capacity opportunities are becoming more difficult to satisfy. So people will have to look at different airports."

Emirates airlines in the coming years will take deliveries of the orders it has placed in 2013 for 150 Boeing 777x and topped up its A380 jumbo jets order of 90 with another 50.

"Emirates obviously needs to maintain the integrity of its hub and it can't move until it's got sufficient capacity to move its entire hub," Griffiths said. "That will have to be in phase 2 (of Al Maktoum International), which we're projecting will be in the middle of the next decade."