Food is playing an important role in boosting business for many sectors and the latest to play around with food is the civil aviation industry. This comes on the heels of a perceptible trend noticed in the entertainment sector with the Cinema Theaters creating new dining experience for its patrons through well designed and gastronomically stimulating foods served under high ambiance environment to attract audience and improve their viability as a business. The civil aviation sector in many countries and also many international airlines are toying with the idea of serving gourmet foods to their passengers during the flights. How far this strategy will succeed remains to be seen. Logistical consideration rules out the possibility that in-flight meals can ever compete with regular restaurants in Terra firma in quality, ambiance and service.
"The buy-onboard movement has inspired airlines to upgrade their menus. Some have teamed with celebrity chefs, others with national chains. Come fall, Continental Airlines, which had been the last major holdout, will stop offering free food on domestic coach flights and start charging for what it promises will be more appetizing fare. Even JetBlue, while not giving up its gratis Terra chips, is testing a pay menu. The twin goal is to generate profits and customer satisfaction as Virgin America has done with its microbrews and freshly muddled mojitos. David Johnson, a mechanical engineer in San Francisco, recently paid $40 more for his Virgin ticket than the price a competitor would have charged him. "I would say I fly Virgin 50% for the food and 50% for the wi-fi and the atmosphere," says Johnson, who dropped $17 on a cross-country flight for a Black Star beer and a chicken tarragon wrap".
Probably if, not serving food during the flight becomes an industry standard, priced and premium food may tip the scale while choosing a carrier. Price may play a part in such decisions eventually. It is natural that flights of duration beyond a couple of hours should provide access to good food as passengers cannot be expected to carry "lunch boxes" with them to avoid starvation. Those airlines with good food at reasonable price will score over others in the long run.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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