Dubai-headquartered Dnata has signed an agreement to acquire the catering business of Australian airline Qantas.

The deal is subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Qantas’ catering businesses include wholly-owned subsidiaries Q Catering and Snap Fresh.

Q Catering has centres in four Australian ports – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, with its largest airline customer being Qantas.

Snap Fresh is a meal production plant in Queensland, specialising in frozen meals for airlines and customers in the healthcare and food retail industries.

Under the agreement, Dnata will supply catering for Qantas flights for an initial period of ten years, and Qantas will continue to work with key suppliers in menu design and development.

Dnata, which is part of the Emirates Group, already operates 11 catering facilities in Australia, currently trading under the Dnata catering brand (recently rebranded from Alpha Flight Services). Dnata employs more than 4000 people in Australia across its catering, cargo and ground handling businesses.

Dnata has invested significantly in growing its global catering network over the past year. Its most recent milestones include the opening of a catering facility in Dublin, Ireland, the opening of its $50m Melbourne catering facility and an agreement to acquire New York-based caterer 121 inflight catering. It is also building a facility in Vancouver, Canada.