Inflight Catering
ANA first airline to serve freshly tapped beer in-flight
19 July 2010 | Airlines are increasingly making an effort to use fresh ingredients in their in-flight meals, or try to figure out ways to prepare parts of the menu freshly on board. For example, ANA, JAL and Cathay Pacific serve freshly cooked rice in-flight, using an onboard rice cooker. Cathay Pacific long-haul aircraft also have a toaster oven and an espresso machine on board, while kitchens on SWISS aircraft and Lufthansa’s new A380 are equipped with an in-flight Nespresso machine.
Now, All Nippon Airways (ANA) is taking its in-flight beverage service up a notch by serving freshly tapped beer on select flights. ANA is the first airline to offer beer on tap during flights. Draft beer comes out of a keg, using highly pressurized carbon dioxide gas, and couldn’t be served before because airlines are prohibited from bringing high-pressure gas cylinders onboard due to safety regulations. ANA worked with ice machine and refrigeration specialist Hoshizaki Electric to develop a special beer dispenser that uses carbon dioxide gas vaporized from dry ice to power the mini beer kegs. Read full article »
Thai Airways’ catering division launches ‘off-flight’ catering brand
1 July 2010 | ‘Puff & Pie’ is a bakery chain owned by Thai Airways Catering. Until recently, the 81 outlets across Thailand primarily offered a wide range of bakery items and beverages served onboard Thai Airways (THAI) and produced by the airline’s catering facilities. THAI Catering has just announced it will expand the product range at the Puff & Pie bakery chain in an effort to generate additional revenues to its regular airline catering operation.
Puff & Pie will offer a range of Thai and Chinese take-away meals, seven kinds of ready-made curry sauce and five styles of salad dressing, which are also used in THAI in-flight meals. The products will be sold under the airline caterer’s new ‘Eurng Luang’ brand and will initially be available at its Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket Puff & Pie Bakery shops. THAI says it is aiming for the business traveler who had a good in-flight culinary experience, but has no time to prepare quality Thai food at home. Read full article »
Advertiser sponsors free snack box for Horizon Air passengers
7 June 2010 | With advertising budgets under pressure and traditional mass advertising losing its effectiveness, advertisers are looking for new ways to reach consumers. At the same time many airlines have begun charging for services that used to be included in the price of the ticket. One solution for airlines that want to cut cost, but maintain their service level, is to team up with advertisers to offer amenities such as inflight Wi-Fi or Starbucks coffee for free.
The latest initiative comes from Air Advertainment, a marketing company that sells snack boxes to advertisers and gives them to airlines to distribute to passengers for free. Air Advertainment’s first campaign was launched on May 24th on Horizon Air flights between Seattle and Portland. The branded snack box contains a bag of pretzels, chips and a chocolate, and is sponsored by Creative Labs. The electronics company is using the new ‘snackvertising’ medium to promote a Facebook contest to name its new HD video camera. Flight attendants alert passengers on board that their meals are complimentary of Creative Labs, and 25,000 boxes will be distributed during 20 days on the route. Read full article »
ANA charges for drinks on domestic flights, teams up with Starbucks to serve free coffee
1 June 2010 | Seeking to cut back on its operational costs, ANA on April 1st 2010 started to charge passengers in economy class on domestic flights for all drinks other than water and green tea. Instead, passengers can purchase drinks from ANA’s ‘My Choice’ paid catering menu. Beverages available for sale include premium mandarin orange juice, Darjeeling tea and onion gratin soup. Wine, champagne, sake and shochu served in ANA’s business class are also sold in economy.
Two weeks after introducing its paid drinks policy on domestic flights, ANA teamed up with Starbucks in a ‘tryvertising’ campaign to promote the launch of Starbucks new VIA instant coffee brand in Japan. Since April 14, the day Starbucks launched its VIA coffee brand in Japan, ANA has served complimentary Starbucks VIA coffee on domestic routes. The free coffee service has just ended on May 31st, and ANA now charges 200 yen (USD2.20, EUR1.80) for a cup of Starbucks Via.
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KLM pilot gives long-haul economy passengers option to order a premium meal
27 May 2010 | KLM has launched a pilot in which economy class passengers onboard its long-haul flights get the option to purchase a premium ‘a la carte’ meal, instead of the usual free meal service. The paid ‘a la carte’ menu includes a healthy Japanese meal, a tray with Italian delicacies, an Indonesian rice table, and a sustainable menu of organic chicken, vegetables, and cheeses.
Economy passengers that have pre-ordered a premium meal will also be served first. Dishes cost EUR15 each and can be ordered and paid for when checking in online between 30 and 24 hours prior to departure. KLM says the goal of the paid premium catering option is to provide more choice for its wide range of passengers. The pilot will run until the end of August 2010 on flights from Amsterdam to Dubai, Cape Town, Bangkok/Taipei, and Singapore/Denpasar.
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Airlines go local with their inflight drinks
13 May 2010 | Catering to increasingly sophisticated passengers who want to try something new besides the generic soda and alcohol brands on their trip, a number of airlines are serving local niche beverages on board their flights. By adding an exclusive homegrown product to their in-flight beverage selection, these airlines also put an authentic element and a bit of storytelling to their brands, while at the same time supporting the local economy. Local drinks are often served on smaller airlines such as Virgin America, Porter and Brussels Airlines, as it is easier for local breweries to guarantee supply.
Virgin America since December 2009 offers locally-made micro-brew beers ‘21st Amendment’ and ‘Gordon Biersch’, as well as premium alcoholic drinks from California, such as ‘VeeV Açai Spirit‘ and ‘Karma California Brut‘. Earlier in 2009, Shaun O’Sullivan co-founder of San Francisco-based micro-brewery ‘21st Amendment’ was onboard a Virgin America flight tweeting about the carrier’s in-flight experience and offered his ale as a potential menu item. As a result of his post and passenger requests for a larger onboard beer selection with more micro-brew options, the carrier added the California-made beverages to its inflight drink menu.
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Air New Zealand gives its inflight entertainment a social twist
11 May 2010 | Air New Zealand (ANZ) is giving the inflight entertainment on its new B777-300 aircraft a social twist. There’s nothing ‘2.0’ to ANZ’s new social IFE feature though. Instead, the airline wants to bring the experience of watching TV together to the back of the aircraft seat at 30,000 feet, which passengers in ANZ’s ‘Skycouch’ seats may especially appreciate.
The new ‘screen share’ feature on ANZ’s Panasonic eX2 IFE system gives passengers the option to synchronize video and music with their neighbours so they can watch and listen together. Parents can use the feature to check what their children are watching, for example. How it works: The ‘screen share’ page on the IFE system shows what other passengers in the same row are watching or listening to and passengers can choose to join in or to start the same content from scratch. It is not known if passengers can turn off the screen share option, in order to avoid nosy co-passengers tuning in. ANZ is also catering to those that carry their personal entertainment devices, as every seat comes with in-seat power and an USB connection.
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Thai Airways shows CO2 footprint of inflight meals on menu card
24 February 2010 | Thai Airways (THAI) claims to be the first airline in the world to provide carbon footprint information on a number of signature dishes served on board. Since the beginning of 2010, the CO2 impact of two Thai signature dishes – Chicken Mussaman Curry with steamed rice (13.6 kg CO2 e per 250g serving) and Green Curry Kiew-Wan with steamed rice (13.9 kg CO2 e per 250g serving) have been printed on the inflight menu.
THAI says it hopes passengers become more environmentally conscious when they are aware of the amount of greenhouse gasses produced in the choice of meals offered in the menu. The CO2 labelling is the result of THAI’s participation in the Carbon Footprint Technical Cooperation Project for Thai Products, which was initiated by the Thai government.
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ANA let’s premium passengers order food via IFE touchscreen
17 November 2009 | All Nippon Airways (ANA) has selected Panasonic Avionics’ eX2 in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for its Boeing 777/767 aircraft. ANA says the audio video on demand system will feature 160 programs including movies, videos, music and games, as well as iPod connectors, USB ports and power outlets on all seats. The deal is part of ANA’s strategy to launch new products and services under its new brand positioning ‘Inspiration of Japan’, which will be first rolled out from February 2010 on its new 777-300ER aircraft.
Furthermore, starting in April 2010, passengers in ANA’s First and Business class can order their meals and drinks directly from their seat from a touch-screen on their personal TV monitor. Passengers can have their meals when they please, and create their own menu from more than 30 a la carte choices.
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ANA to monetize business class perks with ‘MyChoice’ program
4 November 2009 | All Nippon Airways (ANA) has introduced a new ancillary revenue program, called ‘MyChoice’. The idea behind ‘ANA My Choice’ is to offer Economy passengers paid access to services that were previously only available to business class passengers. The program starts on December 1 with a limited number of paid-for services and ANA says it will introduce more services during 2010.
On the ground, ANA Economy passengers can purchase access to ANA’s airport lounge at Haneda for JP¥5,000 (USD55/EUR40).The introductory fee until the end of January 2010 is 4,000 yen. On board, light Business Class meals, such as a rice ball and miso soup set, are available for sale to Economy passengers for JP¥500 (USD5.50/EUR4) until the end of January, then the regular fee is 700 yen. Also, business classs wines and shochu (a strong liquor) will be sold for the introductory price of JP¥800 (USD9/EUR6) per glass (regular fee is 1,000 yen).
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