Airline Catering
Airline Catering
What is airline catering?
Airline catering is a business that provides food service at a remote site, specifically airline companies. It involves providing meals for passengers on board an aircraft as well as for restaurants situated at airport terminals. Modern airports have a variety of food and beverage outlets to cater to the increasing number of air passengers. Catering to passengers en route is normally contracted out to a flight catering unit of a reputed hotel or to a catering contractor or to the catering unit operated by the airline itself as an independent entity.
History * As early as 1914, Zeppelin airships already served their passengers champagne with their in-flight meal and in the 1920s they introduced flying dining rooms with chefs preparing hot meals. * August 1919 – first regular passenger service by an airplane travelling between England and France. The two-hour flight served game and cream teas but was refused by passengers en route to England because of turbulence. * October 1919 – KLM Flight from London to Paris; first appearance of pre-packed airline meals. * 1930 - American Boeing Air Transport (a forerunner of United Airlines) recruited eight nurses as flight attendants, and therefore, became the first airline to employ stewardesses. Nurses were employed because airplanes at this time had unpressurised cabins and flew at relatively low altitudes. This meant that the flights were frequently bumpy, and along with the lower levels of oxygen at altitude, resulted in many passengers feeling unwell and vomiting. One estimate suggests that at least one in four passengers were physically sick. * 1933 - The Marriott group contract caterers saw a gap in the market and decided to serve food from one of their ‘Hot Shoppes’ to passengers queued up for flights out of an adjacent airport. * 1934 - Qantas and Imperial Airways combined their operations to fly passengers across continents in short trips from
What is airline catering?
Airline catering is a business that provides food service at a remote site, specifically airline companies. It involves providing meals for passengers on board an aircraft as well as for restaurants situated at airport terminals. Modern airports have a variety of food and beverage outlets to cater to the increasing number of air passengers. Catering to passengers en route is normally contracted out to a flight catering unit of a reputed hotel or to a catering contractor or to the catering unit operated by the airline itself as an independent entity.
History * As early as 1914, Zeppelin airships already served their passengers champagne with their in-flight meal and in the 1920s they introduced flying dining rooms with chefs preparing hot meals. * August 1919 – first regular passenger service by an airplane travelling between England and France. The two-hour flight served game and cream teas but was refused by passengers en route to England because of turbulence. * October 1919 – KLM Flight from London to Paris; first appearance of pre-packed airline meals. * 1930 - American Boeing Air Transport (a forerunner of United Airlines) recruited eight nurses as flight attendants, and therefore, became the first airline to employ stewardesses. Nurses were employed because airplanes at this time had unpressurised cabins and flew at relatively low altitudes. This meant that the flights were frequently bumpy, and along with the lower levels of oxygen at altitude, resulted in many passengers feeling unwell and vomiting. One estimate suggests that at least one in four passengers were physically sick. * 1933 - The Marriott group contract caterers saw a gap in the market and decided to serve food from one of their ‘Hot Shoppes’ to passengers queued up for flights out of an adjacent airport. * 1934 - Qantas and Imperial Airways combined their operations to fly passengers across continents in short trips from