Airlines are investing heavily in premium cabin food and wine programs to provide passengers with high-quality and unique dining experiences. They are collaborating with world-renowned chefs to develop innovative menus that feature local and seasonal ingredients from destinations on their routes. Airlines also aim to balance global and local tastes by incorporating regional cuisines while ensuring a consistent quality of meals across their networks. As the industry focuses on improving food quality and service flexibility, airlines continue enhancing inflight dining but still face limitations compared to restaurant kitchens.

1. Fare
n London,a world-class sommelier
compares wines for a fall tasting.In
Singapore,a group of internationally-
renowned chefs gathers to discuss
trends in food and wine.In Auckland,a
catering team scours the globe for seasonal,
sustainably-grown produce.
Eager to please first- and business-class
passengers,airlines are investing aggressively
in their premium-class food and wine
programs—creating meals that balance global
tastes with local ingredients,introducing
passengers to up-and-coming wines,and
developing more flexible à la carte menus.
“In our premium cabins,we’re proactively
comparing our product and service to some
of the finest restaurants and hotels around
the world,”says Werner Kimmeringer,head of
catering for Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.
“It’s our ambition to create nothing less than
an inspiring dining experience.”
For many airlines,that road to culinary
inspiration is paved with menus from some
of the world’s best-known chefs.Korea’s
Edward Kwon is working with Asiana on new
premium-class meals,Neil Perry of Sydney’s
famed Rockpool restaurant advises Qantas,
and ANA serves“collaboration menus”
created by well-known Japanese figures like
Harumi Kurihara.
Robin Padgett,vice president of aircraft
catering for Dubai-based Emirates,says
new routes offer opportunity for new
partnerships.To prepare for its recently
launched Madrid service,Emirates enlisted
Michelin three-star Spanish chef Santi
Santamaria,who developed a menu that
includes foie gras and caramelized pineapple
tapas,veal-shank Parmentier,and cremos
de vanilla al cacao tiramisu.“He personally
worked on these dishes,and the results have
been outstanding,”Padgett says.
Singapore Airlines has taken this type
of collaboration a step further,assembling
an International Culinary Panel of world-

2. class chefs and sommeliers that includes
India’s Sanjeev Kapoor,the U.K.’s Gordon
Ramsay,NewYork’s Alfred Portale,and rising
Chinese star Zhu Jun.“No other airline has
made this kind of commitment to inflight
dining,”says Goh Khean Hooi,Singapore
Airlines’vice president for inflight services.
“It differentiates us from other carriers,and
allows us to stay on top of new trends.”
One of those trends is a new interest in
comfort food.“There is a nostalgia associated
with these foods that people around the world
are embracing,”says Rick Stephen,Singapore’s
executive sous-chef.Airlines are taking
note.TurkishAirlines serves hearty dishes
likeViennese schnitzel to its business-class
passengers,BritishAirways’new first-class
offers traditional English tea service with cut
sandwiches and cakes,and Etihad’s fall U.S.
menu features dishes like roasted lamb loin
and green-pea soup with forest mushrooms.
As fast-growing carriers—especially those in
the Middle East and Asia—expand their route
networks,they’re diversifying their menus in
tandem.“We’re a global airline with a global
customer base,and it’s essential that our
guests find something they’re comfortable
with,”says Etihad’s Kimmeringer.“We tailor
our food to the routes we serve,whether it’s a
traditional Japanese kaiseki menu on Tokyo
and Nagoya routes,or Michigan brown trout
with baked potato on flights to the U.S.”
But airlines must strike a balance between
global and local.“As a true Arabic airline,
we need to ensure that our guests can
enjoy authentic Arabic and Middle Eastern
Cuisine

3. cuisine,”says Kimmeringer.All premium-
cabin menus at Etihad include at least one
Middle Eastern dish, such as chicken shish
tawook, served with saffron sauce and dill
rice, and a dessert of creamy bread pudding
with rose water and pistachio.Arabic sweets
are also available on every flight.
Hugo Pantano,executive chef at LAN,
strives to create meals that provide a
consistent experience across the airline’s
network,while at the same time offering
local accents.“Passengers should find a
comparable menu,whether they board
one of our planes in Santiago,Auckland or
Rome,”he says.“So we offer very similar
dishes,but give them interesting little touches
depending on the route.”He says that can
mean using native spices or a local variety
of vegetable.“Potatoes from New Zealand
are different than those from Europe,”
he says.“It can be as simple as that.”
At Alitalia,the airline’s new business-class
menus showcase different sides of Italian
cuisine.“There is great diversity in our
different regions,”says Alitalia’s sommelier
Carlo Attisano,who is heavily involved in the
airline’s food program.“Every two months,
we highlight different areas of the country.”
Earlier this year,Alitalia featured dishes from
Italy’s Latium and Apulia regions,and this
fall,will focus on Sicily and LaMarche.
Airlines are also making the move to local
Fine Wine
seasonal foods.“Our outstation (non-Abu
Dhabi) kitchens are able to provide us with
fresh food that comes from the regions we
serve,”Kimmeringer says.“And rotating our
menus regularly allows us to take advantage
of what’s in season.”At Air New Zealand,
sourcing locally is a key part of the entire
menu development process.“Our country
is known for the quality of its produce,fish
and meat,and we use as much local product
as possible,”says Alistair Dunlop,the airline’s
inflight catering manager.“We have great
respect for the ecological systems around us,
and purchase foods drawn from sustainable
sources whenever we can.When feasible,we
also use organic.”
While the industry focuses on food quality
and innovative menus,it’s also working
to make inflight dining more flexible and
convenient.ANA has revamped its entire
business-class meal program around à la carte
service that is part of its“My Style,My Space”
concept.The airline’s Senior Manager of
Products and Services Norihiro Kawate says
the menu’s 30 diverse items,which include
simmered sweetfish with roe,chicken bharta,
and pan-fried beef tenderloin,can be mixed
and matched and ordered at any point during
a flight.Etihad offers a“Kitchen Anytime”
menu,and a chair-side beverage service that
includes coffee,tea,espresso,cappuccino,
Americano,or hot-chocolate drinks.
But the industry admits that while inflight
cuisine is arguably better than it has ever been,
and airlines continue making great strides in
what Emirates’Padgett calls“replicating the
restaurant experience,”there are limitations.
“When you’re at 35,000 feet,you don’t have
an open flame to sear a sea scallop,and you
can’t make a soufflé,”says Matt Moran,
an Australian chef who is a member of
Singapore’s ICP.“But,once you get your head
around what actually can be done on a plane,
there are lots of places you can go.”