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LSG Group

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LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG
LSG Group
Company typeAktiengesellschaft
Founded1995
Headquarters
Neu-Isenburg
,
Germany
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Erdmann Rauer (CEO)
  • Wilken Bormann (CFO)
Brands
  • LSG Sky Chefs
  • Retail inMotion
Revenue€3.400 billion (2019)
Number of employees
35,679 (2019)
ParentAurelius Group
Websitelsg-group.com

LSG Group, registered as LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, is an aviation services company that manages multiple brands, including LSG Sky Chefs and Retail inMotion. The company's world headquarters is located in Neu-Isenburg, near Frankfurt, Germany. Its North American headquarters is located in Irving, Texas, United States. In February 2018, LSG Sky Chefs co-founded the Airline Catering Association, which is based in Brussels, Belgium.[1]

Corporate affairs

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LSG Sky Chefs trucks on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport

Ownership and Structure

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LSG Group was sold by Lufthansa Group to Aurelius Group in 2023. LSG Group is a collection of companies providing products and services for the travel industry.

Service

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Under the LSG Sky Chefs brand, the company is a provider of in-flight catering services for the airline industry. In addition the company also provides extended services on other aspects of in-flight service including in-flight logistics, in-flight management, onboard retail management, and the management of airport lounges. In addition to catering to airplanes, LSG has expanded operations to include commercial trains. LSG Sky Chefs partners with more than 300 airlines worldwide across 214 airports and operates almost 210 customer service centers in 51 countries, producing around 591 million meals a year.[2]

The airline carriers served by LSG Sky Chefs can vary from airport to airport, but some major customers are Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Asiana Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Korean Air, Finnair, Emirates and Aeroflot.

LSG Group also caters the ESA missions to the International Space Station with bonus food for the German astronauts.[3]

History

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  • 1942 — American Airlines creates Sky Chefs, Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary.[4]
  • 1966 — Deutsche Lufthansa creates LSG Lufthansa Service GmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary.[5][6][7]
  • 1979 — Sky Chefs moves its headquarters from New York to Arlington, TX, in conjunction with American Airlines’ move to Fort Worth.[8]
  • 1982 — Sky Chefs becomes a subsidiary of American Airlines' newly formed holding company AMR Corporation.
  • 1986 — Toronto-based Onex Capital Corporation acquires Sky Chefs from AMR for $170 million (C$99 million).[4][9] Sky Chefs becomes a subsidiary of Onex Food Services Inc.[7]
  • 1993 — LSG acquires 25 percent of Sky Chefs from Onex for $75 million.[10] LSG and Onex Food enter a joint marketing agreement to operate under the common brand "LSG Lufthansa Service/Sky Chefs."[11]
  • 1995
    • Onex acquires Caterair International Corp. for $516 million.[12][11]
    • Lufthansa creates LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, a wholly owned subsidiary and holding company for all catering activities.[7]
  • 1998 — Onex acquires the airline catering operations of New York-based Ogden Corporation for $84.8 million.[13]
  • 1999 — LSG acquires an additional 23 percent of Sky Chefs.
  • 2001 — LSG acquires Onex Corporation's remaining 47 percent stake in Sky Chefs for $827 million (C$1.3 billion).[14][15]
  • 2016 — LSG acquires Retail inMotion.[16]
  • 2018 — LSG launches Evertaste brand for packaged products.[17]
  • 2020 — Gategroup Holding AG acquires the European business of LSG Group.[18]

Controversies

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Human Rights

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The AFL-CIO study found evidence of applying anti-union strategies and tactics despite LSG having publicly committed themselves to international human rights and labour standards, including organizing and collective bargaining rights. [19]

The 11,000 union members working for LSG (UNITE HERE (“UH”) is the labour union which represents LSG Sky Chefs) voted in June 2019 to authorize a strike in Aug. 13 as the union stated that wages at Sky Chefs were as low as $9.85 an hour and that more than half the workers make less than $11.35 an hour and couldn't afford health benefits. [20]

LSG Sky Chefs, however, strongly disagrees with the study’s argument that European companies seek to locate in the South to avoid unions. According to LSG's response to the study, the Company has, and continues to fully support workers’ rights and freedom of association.[21]

References

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  1. ^ Bloomberg. "Airline-Caterer gründen Interessensvertretung". Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  2. ^ "LSG Group by the numbers - Facts and Figures". Lsgskychefs.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  3. ^ "Space Food: LSG Group sends autoclaved venison ragout to the ISS".
  4. ^ a b "Chef Solutions, Inc.". International Directory of Company Histories – via Encyclopedia.com.
  5. ^ Dienel, Hans-Liudger; Lyth, Peter, eds. (1999). Flying the Flag: European Commercial Air Transport since 1945. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 111. ISBN 9781349269518.
  6. ^ Klußmann, Niels; Malik, Arnim (2004). Lexikon der Luftfahrt (in German). Springer. p. 330. ISBN 9783662083697.
  7. ^ a b c Jones, Peter, ed. (2004). Flight Catering. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 30–31. ISBN 9781136402906.
  8. ^ "Sky Chefs". Airline, Ship & Catering Onboard Services Magazine. Vol. 24. 1992. p. 31.
  9. ^ "Sky Chefs' Sale". The New York Times. Reuters. January 15, 1986.
  10. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; LUFTHANSA UNIT GETS STAKE IN SKY CHEFS". The New York Times. Reuters. September 25, 1993.
  11. ^ a b Faiola, Anthony (May 11, 1995). "Onex to take over Caterair operations". The Washington Post.
  12. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; A $516 MILLION DEAL IN AIRLINE CATERING". The New York Times. Reuters. May 11, 1995.
  13. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; OGDEN TO SELL AIRLINE-CATERING OPERATIONS TO ONEX". The New York Times. Bloomberg News. May 5, 1998.
  14. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; LUFTHANSA TO ACQUIRE A STAKE IN SKY CHEFS CATERING". The New York Times. Bloomberg News. March 30, 2001.
  15. ^ "Lufthansa takes over Sky Chefs". The Caterer. June 14, 2001.
  16. ^ Lundstrom, Rick (March 23, 2017). "LSG Group closes out 2016 with revenue and EBIT increase". PAX International.
  17. ^ Velan, Kristina (April 10, 2018). "LSG Group Invests in Packaged-Products Market With New Brand Evertaste". APEX.
  18. ^ "Lufthansa selling European catering business to gategroup". AP News. December 9, 2019.
  19. ^ "European companies respond to AFL-CIO report alleging use of anti-union tactics in American South". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. October 2019.
  20. ^ Arnold, Kyle (2 August 2019). "100 union catering workers are planning to get arrested while protesting American Airlines". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Response by LSG Sky Chefs". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 29 October 2019.
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