Best known for their delivery services, DHL have recently invested £8.8 million in a new catering hub at Heathrow. Designed to meet the end-of-route needs of long haul flights, the shared hub will provide all the services required by flights to ensure top-notch catering. With facilities to provide procurement, sourcing services, menu development, food assembly and final mile delivery to aircraft, the new catering hub will be a welcome development after won DHL an additional £40 million in airline catering contracts recently. The catering hub is due to open early next year, working alongside DHL’s existing food preparation facility already situated at Heathrow’s Flight Assembly Centre.
Paul Richardson, Managing Director of Specialist Services at DHL Supply Chain said: “This investment builds on our successful flight assembly operation for British Airways, which sees over 80,000 flights serviced and 14 million meals prepared per year.” The new site will also include a specialist recycling centre, helping airlines reach ‘zero waste to landfill’ catering services, and the fact that the hub will be shared means that airlines can get the benefit of high standard facilities and services but with a reduced cost.
