The agreement includes catering and provisioning services at Iberia's main hubs at Madrid and Barcelona, as well as at over 20 other airports in Europe, the United States and Latin America. The agreement, which will take effect in May 2011, also will cover ancillary services, including onboard retailing of food and beverages for short- and medium-haul flights and supply of products to Iberia's VIP lounge in Madrid.

Under the new agreement, Gate Gourmet will expand its role as Iberia's global account manager to include menu planning and design as well as operations management.

"We are extremely pleased to continue and expand our long-standing relationship with Iberia, a leading airline in the forefront of airline consolidation," said gategroup Chief Executive Guy Dubois. "This agreement reflects positively on our strong partnership and on Gate Gourmet's capabilities, innovation and reliability."

Paloma Manzaneque, Iberia Customer Relations Director said, "This new agreement will enable us to continue developing even further our gastronomic proposal, guaranteeing a quality and differentiated service for our clients."

On an annual basis, Gate Gourmet produces approximately 8.5 million meals for Iberia and provisions more than 85,000 flights for the airline.

"Gate Gourmet is very proud to be a strategic provider for merger partners Iberia and British Airways in their respective hubs of Madrid and London Heathrow," Dubois said.