The World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo is for the first time co-located with Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg this year, attracting major players including LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet and Servair plus more than 150 other catering and onboard service specialists. The combined event is expected to attract senior buyers from over 200 of the world's airlines.
The former International Travel Catering Association (ITCA) show was acquired by Reed Exhbitions last year, and increases the size of this week's Hamburg event to some 4,000sqm, compared with 2,600sqm for last year's Aircraft Interiors Expo.
"We'd been looking to incorporate a large in-flight service zone in with Aircraft Interiors for a number of years," says exhibition director John Hyde. "One of the problems we had is that a lot of the airlines were still going to the annual ITCA event in Nice so it really seemed to make sense that we incorporated the ITCA event in with Aircraft Interiors, in order to encourage the airlines - the key buyers of catering and onboard services - to come along."
He adds: "Some of the airline personnel that were coming to Aircraft Interiors also had responsibility for catering and onboard services. So the fit is very, very good."
ITCA attracted around 140 exhibitors, but in its new guise 180 firms have been signed up.
"We weren't expecting to see such huge growth in the first year," says Hyde. "We've actually achieved in year one what we were hoping to achieve over a number of years. That's mainly because a lot of the large catering and service providers have come back - those that haven't exhibited at ITCA for a number of years, such as Gate Group and Servair."
Source: Flight Daily News
