gategroup has extended and expanded business for its Gate Gourmet and Pourshins brands with LAN Airlines of Chile and its affiliates in Latin America. The four-year agreements are valued at nearly CHF 200 million.

"We are extremely pleased to continue and to expand our long-standing partnership with LAN," said Guy Dubois, CEO of gategroup. "These agreements reflect the airline's confidence in our brands' reliability as suppliers and the appeal of gategroup's industry-leading portfolio of products and services for companies that serve people on the move."

LAN, one of the leading passenger and cargo airlines in Latin America, signed a long-term contract extension with Gate Gourmet for catering and provisioning in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador; Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Ezeiza and Jorge Newberry airports in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The companies also reached an agreement covering catering services in Madrid, Spain, and for Los Angeles, Miami and New York-JFK in the United States.

At these locations, Gate Gourmet provides meal preparation, cart packing, aircraft loading and unloading, equipment sanitization and warehousing services.

In addition to the catering contracts, LAN has agreed to a long-term agreement for asset management and galley planning services. These are provided by gategroup's supply chain specialist Pourshins along with software from sister brand eGate Solutions. Asset management involves the timely and efficient warehousing and distribution of in-flight equipment, disposables and bonded items throughout the airline's network. Galley planning manages the aircraft galley design and loading process for maximum efficiency.

Edwin Garcia, gategroup vice president and President of the Latin America region, said, "Our partnership with LAN has strong roots in our commitment to quality and excellence. We are delighted to take our existing relationship into the next decade and to provide new added-value services through Pourshins and eGate Solutions."

Terms of the agreements remain confidential.