For 95 years, dining “à-la-airline” has taken its fair share of sneers, and jeers. The ‘bag lunch’ produced cheaper fares and increased profits. But that was then. Today’s lunch/dinner tray is considered an opportunity for airlines to win passengers and increase revenue. In-flight service is now a key battleground to sway passenger loyalties. Menus can change monthly, and airlines enlist the endorsement and ideas of top chefs.
It was usually given short shrift. Food on the ground before you took off was of a dubious nature. The general belief was that people were far too preoccupied with the formalities of landing and taking off to enjoy good food. Things have come a long way since then and the approach now is to lure people waiting for flights or in transit to have a meal fit for a king. This year marks the 95th anniversary of airline food on commercial flights. From the time Imperial Airways, which later became BOAC, supplied passengers on its route between Croydon and Paris with a box of sandwiches and fruit for three shillings and sixpence not much has changed, apart from the price. With the new no frill option getting popular we could have completed the full circle and gone back to the sandwich and a piece of fruit for twice the price.
With nearly four billion meals consumed on planes every year the airline food industry is growing and is worth £14.7 billion worldwide a year and employs over 200,000 people.
Gone are the days when air travel was a rare event for most people, but equally, gone are the days when a meal outside the home was an occasional occurrence. The fact that so many people can be fed with items which must be cooked, portioned, assembled, chilled, stored, loaded, heated, insulated and distributed at an altitude at which taste buds crash does not stop people wondering why the sandwich is not as good as those at the local fast food joint.
What we get to eat and drink at our meanly squashed-up or expensively extended seat is an emotive subject for airlines and passengers alike. Many airlines now tout gourmet fare created by famous chefs.
Food trends have changed over the last ten years. Gourmet food now means using the freshest regional ingredients and serving it right away when the flavors are still at their best. But airline food has gone in just the opposite direction. Today, airline catering is under the control of two transnational companies, Dobbs of Switzerland and Sky Chefs of Germany. Together they cater the meals of 260 airlines.
Flight attendants have opinions about the gourmet fare, but only express them anonymously. Although the new gourmet meals are not quite so bland as the old ones, they say, the chicken is still that same old rubber-duckie, and there’s nothing tender about the beef tenderloin.
True, famous chefs endorse airline meals. But they do not prepare the airline meals as in their home restaurants, where the master touch affects the cut of meat and the manner of preparation. For example, gourmet restaurants place the freshly prepared food onto heated plates and then rush it directly to customers. Airline meals, on the other hand, are poured ahead of time into disposable aluminum pans and frozen. On jets, hundreds of meals are simultaneously reconstituted, then held for an undetermined amount of time in carts after which the meat is heated while chilling the salads that finally makes their way down the aisles. But then taste is still only one minor factor for menu planners. Primarily, the issue is space and weight. Three kilos of payload requires one liter of fuel and that expensive fuel weighs another kilo, so the costs build up.
According to the Air Transport Association, major carriers spent $500 million on food and beverage service or $3.03 per thousand revenue passenger miles representing about 2.1 percent of total operating expenses. That’s down significantly from the early 1990s when major US airlines were spending about $5.50 per thousand passenger miles, representing 3.8 percent of total cost.
Until recently there was an unwritten policy to serve foods with a high fat content. It is cheaper, keeps better, is easier to reheat and makes people tired and sedentary and less likely to incite air rage because of deep vein thrombosis fears and the fashion for healthy eating, airlines now encourage passengers to move around and eat salads. The International Air Transport Association lists almost 30 specialized meals, which include gluten-free, low-sodium, halal and vegan.
One forward-looking development in airline catering is what has been referred to as ‘Freedom Menu’ meaning that passengers choose when they want to eat. This system already operates for people who turn left at the airplane door and may spread further.
The year 2003 was the year of the BYOF revolution in air travel, that’s ‘Bring Your Own’ or ‘Buy Your Own’ Food.
Beginning with Midwest Airlines in January of last year, almost all of the major airlines have either adopted or are testing for-purchase meal programs, whether selling meals at the boarding gate or in the aisle of the plane.
Potential benefits to travelers include a greater level of choice (not everyone wants the rubber chicken). But the service isn’t without flaws. A leading newspaper reported that passengers who passed on buying food in the terminal after a gate agent announced meals would be for sale on the flight found that attendants often ran out of food. In trying not to have too much food on board to avoid waste, the airlines sometimes don’t have enough, leaving planeloads of hungry passengers and hungry passengers are usually unhappy passengers. Additionally, in many of the test programs meals were for sale only on those flights that would not have complimentary meals.
Airlines, indeed, are trying to figure how to cut catering costs without starting a revolt among hungry passengers. Travelers already disgruntled by fewer flights, elaborate security checks, long lines, delays and other inconveniences that have made flying a big hassle find refuge in food…it is a psychological thing.
Despite all the flak the airline catering industry is taking steps to improve the quality of airline cuisine. And this comes at just the right time. One just-released industry survey shows one-third of today’s frequent flyers rank food as the number one reason they prefer an airline. And half say they would pay more for better cuisine.
