gategroup and SunExpress sign contract for retail onboard services

The agreement with the holiday airline SunExpress allows gategroup to take advantage of the untapped potential in the Turkish leisure market.

gategroup and Turkish-based SunExpress have signed an exclusive agreement to provide in-flight catering and provisioning services across SunExpress’ entire domestic and international network. SunExpress is a leading airline for international leisure traffic to and from Turkey and domestic flights within Turkey carrying over seven million passengers per year.

gategroup will act as the sole concessionaire of SunExpress’ food and beverage retail onboard program providing passengers with the opportunity to purchase from a wide range of high quality food and beverage products for onboard consumption. The contract came into effect on February 1, 2018. gategroup will deliver the service in partnership with Sancak Inflight Service, who will provide the catering and logistics services required at SunExpress’ main bases at Antalya and Izmir Airports and throughout Turkey.

gategroup President EME and Americas Herman Anbeek said, “We are excited to provide our services to the Turkish market through this exclusive agreement with SunExpress as we see tremendous potential for the leisure tourism sector in this well-developed country. Working with Sancak Inflight Service as our business partner in Turkey ensures an optimal service for SunExpress and its passengers.”

SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Ahmet Çalışkan stated, “Customer satisfaction is one of the top priorities for SunExpress and in this framework, Skytrax Awards, which is known as the ‘passenger's choice’, chose SunExpress as the world’s fourth best holiday airline in 2017. We have cooperated with gategroup and its experienced business partner in Turkey, Sancak Inflight Service, to offer our passengers more delicious and more diversified service by carrying customer satisfaction to a higher level.”

Sancak Inflight Service builds on over 25 years of catering experience and operates in seven international Airports in Turkey, enjoying a well-deserved reputation for its culinary excellence and customer service. Sancak Inflight Service Chairman of the Board Mustafa Bayrak said “We are looking forward to years of successful cooperation with SunExpress. Our business partnership with gategroup has created a remarkable added value which fits very well with the expectations of SunExpress.”

Media inquiries
Nancy Jewell
+41 44 533 7081
njewell[at]gategroup.com

About gategroup
gategroup is the global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. We provide passengers with superior culinary and retail experiences, leveraging our innovation and advanced technology solutions. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, we deliver operational excellence through the most extensive catering network in the aviation industry, serving 700 million passengers annually from over 200 operating units in 60 countries/territories across all continents. In 2017, gategroup reached CHF 4.6 billion in revenues with approximately 43,000 employees worldwide. For further information, please visit www.gategroup.com

About SunExpress
SunExpress was founded in Antalya in 1989 as a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. Now with 29 years of experience in the aviation sector and in holiday expertise, SunExpress offers more than 1300 weekly flights to more than 60 destinations between Turkey, Europe and the Canary Islands, the Red Sea and North Africa. SunExpress employs more than 3900 employees in Antalya, Frankfurt, Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul. SunExpress carries more than 8 million passengers each year with its fleet of 68 aircraft, one of the youngest in Europe. For further information please visit www.SunExpress.com

About Sancak
Originally founded in 1993 in Istanbul as Sancak Catering, Sancak Inflight owns and operates seven state of the art inflight kitchens in Turkey, as well as a satellite logistics platform in Gazipasa Airport (GZP). Sancak Inflight also operates an Executive Jet catering division with its own dedicated staff under the “Sancak Executive” brand.  In 2017 Sancak Inflight uplifted more than 10.000.000 meals to its customers while maintaining an exceptional service quality. For further information, please visit www.sancakinflight.com

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