Dubai’s dnata secures Canadian catering licence

Dnata, the air service provider of Dubai’s Emirates Group, has been awarded a licence to provide flight catering at Canada’s Vancouver International Airport.

The document marks the company’s entry into Canada and will see it build and fit-out a dedicated catering facility with an investment of CAD7m ($5.5m).

The catering operation, dnata’s 64th, will have an initial capacity of 8,000 meals a day and is expected to employ more than 150 staff. It is due to open in the fourth quarter.

“Canada has always been an exciting opportunity for us as a caterer. To turn that opportunity into reality at Vancouver International Airport is particularly exciting, given the solid passenger growth and recognition the airport has received in recent years,” said dnata’s divisional senior vice president of catering Robin Padgett.

The catering division prepares more than 320,000 meals a day for more than 190 airlines. It most recently opened a new facility at Ireland’s Dublin Airport

The 2016-2017 financial year was the most profitable in dnata’s history with $330m in profit and a 15 per cent increase in revenue to $3.3bn.