New partnership provides inflight catering services group

The new company, called dnata Newrest will be formed by Wings Inflight Services, jointly owned by dnata and Mentor Africa, acquiring the inflight catering services business of Newrest First Catering in South Africa. The new entity, dnata Newrest RSA, will be owned and managed equally by dnata, Newrest and Mentor Africa. The transaction was implemented on 15 March 2013.

Operationally, dnata and Newrest will control the new joint venture with their extensive worldwide experience in the inflight catering arena. The business will be led by Newrest First Catering's current country manager, Olivier Laurac, who will serve as country manager of dnata Newrest and Wings current acting CEO, David Coyne, who will serve as CEO of dnata Newrest.

Both Wings and Newrest First Catering will be consolidated in the current, ultra-modern Wings premises in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Employees will transfer over to the new premises on their same terms and conditions of employment.

The new joint venture aims to provide a sustainable future for all key stakeholders and employees in the challenging South African market. The joint venture partners are convinced that their combined knowledge and expertise will enable them to even better respond to their customers' individual needs. They will continue to offer choices ranging from fresh and authentic, world class cuisine to innovatively developed, sourced and packaged fresh, frozen or ambient products, competitively delivered by state-of-the-art provisioning and logistics services - all tailored to their airline customers' specific requirements and needs at competitive cost.