Αbu Dhabi Airports Company announced that it has concluded an agreement with gategroup of Switzerland to provide high quality aircraft provisioning and catering services to business aircraft using Al Bateen Executive Airport, the only airport in the Middle East dedicated to business aviation. The agreement follows a letter of intent signed between Abu Dhabi Airports and gategroup, the leading independent global provider of onboard services, at the MEBA (Middle East Business Aviation) show in Dubai in December 2010.

The agreement was announced at Swiss Port hangar in Geneva with the presence of H.E. Khalifa Al Mazrouei, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports Company, and Andrew Gibson, gategroup CEO, to mark Abu Dhabi Airports’ strategy to enter into strong public-private partnerships with high quality service providers.

This new development comes now as part of Al Bateen Executive Airport’s strategy to deliver best quality service for its customers from aircraft, operators, aircraft owners, and pilots. Gate Gourmet, the core brand of gategroup, will be providing its high quality catering product from its 770 sqm facility now being built at the executive airport. The new facility will be staffed by highly trained chefs producing gourmet meals from the highest quality ingredients.

Commenting on this agreement, H.E. Khalifa Al Mazrouei, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports Company said: “This is an exciting development for Abu Dhabi Airports Company and Al Bateen Executive Airport, which clearly defines the company’s strategy to engage in public-private partnerships with prestigious and world renowned organizations such as gategroup, to provide world class service to private jets departing from Abu Dhabi.”

From gategroup, CEO Andrew Gibson stated: “This agreement marks Gate Gourmet’s debut in the Middle East with its partners, Western Group and Sultan International Holding, and we are immensely proud that it should be at the region’s premier executive airport in Abu Dhabi, one of the most dynamic cities in the world.”

Since its inauguration as a dedicated business aviation airport in the end of 2008, Al Bateen executive Airport has been witnessing strong growth in traffic movements. In 2010 the airport registered 7,900 commercial aircraft movements with 36% increase over 2009, and a further 40% increase was recorded for the first half of 2011 in comparison with the same period in 2010. Abu Dhabi Airports Company is committed to supporting this growth with state-of the art-facility, as the company already invested US$50 million in turning the 50 year-old military airport into a luxury business aviation gateway with an impressive VVIP passenger terminal. Further plans are in place to develop new hangars, apron enhancements, utilities and runway work.