LSG Sky Chefs announces opening of new frozen food facility at Pittsburgh International Airport
Neu-Isenburg, Germany - LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest provider of in-flight services, announced the opening of its first deep-frozen food facility in North America, at Pittsburgh International Airport.
The manufacturing facility is located in 20,000 square feet of LSG Sky Chefs’ existing customer service center on airport property. The facility opens with an initial capacity for producing approximately 11 million meals annually, with room to double that production over time. LSG Sky Chefs chose Pittsburgh International Airport because of the company’s history with the airport, as well as Pittsburgh International’s proximity to major international gateway airports on the East Coast and in the Midwest, which enable direct shipments of deep-frozen foods to those airports.
“We are committed to becoming the leader in the deep-frozen foods segment of the airline catering industry, and Pittsburgh International Airport proved to be a great strategic match for our operating needs,” said Pat Berkelbaugh, Senior Vice President of Sales & Services for LSG Sky Chefs’ North America Region. “We have enjoyed a long, positive relationship with Pittsburgh International Airport, and we are glad to be adding jobs at our Pittsburgh facility.”
LSG Sky Chefs is taking this step to meet increasing demand for frozen-food meals in the airline industry, driven by cost, quality and consistency for such meals. Additionally, LSG Sky Chefs announced a joint venture last year with China National Aviation Group Ltd. to establish another plant in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, to meet growing demand for deep-frozen foods from airlines in the Asia/Pacific region. These additions will enable the company to build on its already considerable and longstanding expertise in frozen-food production acquired through its subsidiary, LSG-Sky Food, which opened in Germany in 1994.
LSG Sky Chefs is the world’s largest provider of in-flight services. These include catering, in-flight equipment and logistics, in-flight retail as well as the management of onboard and related airport services. LSG Sky Chefs partners with more than 300 airlines worldwide and operates some 200 customer service centers in 52 countries, producing around 490 million airline meals a year. In 2011, the companies belonging to LSG Sky Chefs Group achieved consolidated revenues of € 2.3 billion.