Being a supplier in the airline catering business is tough. Meals must be of a quality that is appropriate for the class and type of flight, yet the airlines who are their customers are always looking to keep costs as low as possible, menus must change frequently and respond promptly to customer feedback. Forecasting passenger numbers is difficult. Suppliers are advised of likely numbers for each flight several days in advance, but the actual minimum number of passengers is only fixed six hours before takeoff. Also, flight arrivals can be delayed, upsetting work schedules – even when on time, no more than 40 minutes are allowed before the flight takes off again. Airline caterers usually produce food on, or near, airports, using their own staff. Catering companies’ suppliers are also usually airline specialists who are located near the caterers. So it caused surprise in the industry when a consortium of Southern Foods, a leading food producer that normally supplies retailers with ‘ready-meals’, and DXX, a logistics company, won a large contract at Heathrow airport against the traditional suppliers. DXX was already a large supplier to ‘airside’ caterers there, with its own premises at the airport. Southern Foods made the food at its existing factories and delivered it to DXX, which assembled it onto airline catering trays and transferred them to the aircraft.

(a) Why would an airline use a catering services company rather than organise its own on-board services?

(b) What are the main operations objectives that a catering services company must achieve in order to satisfy its customers?

(c) Why is it important for airlines to reduce turn-around time when an aircraft lands?

(d) Why was the Southern Foods–DXX consortium a threat to more traditional catering companies?