With summer travel in full swing, domestic airlines are doing their bit to make the journey more appetising. As they boost their onboard offerings, the focus is on a revamped and improved in-flight meal experience.
Not only is the mile-high menu being upgraded, the food and beverage (F&B) offerings now include multi-cuisine, gourmet experiences with new categories like vegan, plant-based or festive treats, along with appetisers and drinks for a wholesome culinary experience onboard.
“When we launched in August 2022, we felt the onboard meal service is the most differentiating factor. And as we start flying to newer cities within India, we look to establish a connection with popular food items from various regions, be it drinks or a dish. Like Café Akasa launched kesar badam milkshake on addition of the Varanasi route, misal pav from Pune and Hyderabadi biryani,” said Belson Coutinho, co-founder & chief marketing & experience officer, Akasa Air.
From cold salads to ready-to-eat meals, Café Akasa’s in-flight menu has farm-inspired, plant-based, festival and fusion meal offerings inspired by Indian cuisines and festivals in addition to options like pasta and Vietnamese rice rolls. The menus have been designed keeping in mind consumer behaviour, on-ground dining trends and seasonal festive dishes, and celebratory treats, like a perfectly seasoned bagel sandwich with pesto grilled vegetables, or a rasmalai cheesecake, and a mocktail menu to match.
“Our new domestic in-flight menu blends flavourful Indian cuisine with contemporary international meal options. It is curated to ensure that the flyers enjoy a gourmet meal with emphasis on health and well-being. With festivals approaching, the menu offers choices that bring together culinary excellence from different parts of the world,” said Sandeep Verma, head of in-flight services, Air India.
The domestic flight meal menu changes as per time of day with options like croissants, dark chocolate oatmeal muffins, cheese and truffle oil scrambled eggs with chives, cheese mushroom omelette, etc.
Flyers also get mustard cream-coated chicken sausage, dry jeera aloo wedges, etc, or dishes such as aloo parantha, medu vada and podi idli for breakfast.
Vistara changes its menu every three days, and it includes dishes that cater to Jains, vegans and children. The menus get completely refreshed twice a year, corresponding to changes in the summer and winter schedules.
A SpiceJet spokesperson shared: “We offer light snacks such as sandwiches and special meals for passengers with dietary or religious restrictions, such as diabetic and gluten-free meals, Jain hot meals, along with choices of low calorie salads and a fruit platter.” SpiceJet recently collaborated with Michelin-star chef Vikas Khanna to offer an exclusive menu, the proceeds from which will go to an NGO to support girl child education and empowerment.
Festive special menus are popular too. Café Akasa even offers pre-ordered cakes for flyers who want to celebrate birthdays mid-air. Vistara recently organised a month-long Awadhi food festival on board, Dawat-e-Awadh. Indigo, too, has a pre-booked menu of delectable preparations of popular dishes like Indori poha, and healthy options like muesli with yogurt, sabudana khichdi, etc.