Companies

Skypro: from Portugal to the skies of the Middle East

Sep 16, 2024 Portugal

The Portuguese uniform and professional footwear company continues to invest in the Middle East. Three contracts worth 1.3 million euros with the Royal Jordanian Airlines and Air Arabia have been signed

“Skypro will supply 8,000 pairs of shoes to three airlines”, explains Jorge Pinto, founder of Skypro, to the newspaper Eco. “The contract with FlyDubai is worth 700,000 euros, Air Arabia 350,000 euros and Royal Jordanian Airlines around 200,000 euros”.

The spokesman also revealed that the company is “involved in a tender with significant sums” to outfit Dubai’s airport staff and another to provide handling services to Dnata, Dubai's national air travel agency. Founded in 2004, the uniform and professional footwear company has been dressing Emirates pilots since the end of last year and supplies 80,000 pairs of shoes to Qatar Airways every year.

With an office in Dubai since 2022, Jorge Pinto admits that “the Dubai office is extremely active. We’re increasing the number of tenders we take part in and the fact that we have a local office allows the company to work with potential customers”, he points out.

In the skies of the world

Skypro’s main customers include Emirates, NetJets, Norse Atlantic Airways and Royal Air Maroc. But the Middle East is not the company’s only investment. The aim is to equip crews from all over the world.

Jorge Pinto assures that the company was responsible for “the first certified shoe in the airline industry” and that today “it’s a reference product for any airline”. There are already plans to open offices in Germany and France next year because “these are markets where the companies have more than 1,000 employees”, the exact size the company intends to engage.

In addition to the airline sector, Skypro supplies shipping companies, hotels and even the Swedish police. “We are focused on not being solely dependent on the airline sector, where we had all our eggs before the pandemic. It caused us a lot of difficulties”.

With the issue of sustainability on the table, Jorge Pinto admits that “from 2026, Skypro will only sell uniforms to customers who agree to return them for recycling”. Moreover, the company “is the first in the world [in this segment] to publish a sustainability report”, he reveals. “We don’t know of any other PME in the uniform segment that does this”.

About Skypro

Skypro employs 32 people and has a turnover of 8.7 million euros. The Portuguese company produces 130,000 pairs of shoes and half a million garments a year for more than 40 customers. Headquartered in Ermesinde and Dubai, it has also offices in Oeiras and Atlanta.

For more information, visit the company's website.

Image Credits: apiccaps.pt

Middle East Portugal Companies Footwear Investment Portuguese Shoes