Throwback: A History of Airline Food
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Here at the APEX Experience offices we love a good airline #TBT. Last month we featured our top vintage airline celebrity ads, and we’re always on the hunt for quality throwback material. This month’s inspiration, the history of airline food, all started when we stumbled across this archived article from The New Yorker entitled “Hors d’Uvre In the Sky.” It details the luxurious seven-course meal passengers were treated to up in the air, courtesy of Air France circa 1946. Oh and did we mention French wines and champagne were on the house?
Years later, airlines continue to strive to offer passengers quality ingredients in innovative ways. “More than 50 years later, airlines are still using food as a marketing tool, but these days they’re thinking well beyond colorful magazine ads and adding to their customer base with a whole new menu of marketing ideas,” says Jason Kessler in the August issue of APEX Experience. In his article “Super Market in the Sky” Kessler teases us with a few historical tid-bits, but for those of us with an even larger appetite (pun intended) for historical factoids, feast your eyes (OK I’ll stop) on this nifty timeline of airline food milestones :
October 11, 1919: The first airline meals were served on a Handley-Page flight from London to Paris. They were pre-packed lunch boxes at three shillings each.
1936: United Airlines is the first airline to install kitchens on-board and provide passengers with hot meals.
1950s: Airlines appeal to a higher class of diners with the introduction of table cloths and silver service.
March 2, 1969: British Airways and Air France become renowned for their high-quality cuisine serving items such as champagne, caviar, black truffle, foie gras and lobster.
1970s: Airline travel for the masses and lowering cost of tickets becomes a priority over providing best quality food.
1973: French airline Union de Transports Aériens recruits chef Raymond Oliver to reevaluate their menus.
1987: Robert Crandall, chief executive of American Airlines, reportedly trims $40,000 off the carrier’s annual outgoings by removing a single olive from every salad served in first class.
2001: The website airlinemeals.net launches, giving passengers a forum to discuss plane food, and to post photographs of in-flight suppers. Nearly 30,000 images have been uploaded since.
2011: British Airways gets help from Heston Blumenthal, of Fat Duck fame, for its in-flight offerings. Singapore Airlines sign up Carlo Cracco, a two-star Michelin chef in Milan, and Air France employs Joel Robuchon.
December, 2012: Japan Airlines serves Kentucky Fried Chicken to its passengers over the holiday period.
April 2013: Air Baltic unveils a food ordering system that allows customers to choose every aspect of their in-flight meal when they book their seat.
April 2014: Cathay Pacific Airlines partners with Hong Kong’s Michelin-starred restaurant Tosca to offer fine Italian cuisine on-board
The next milestone for airline food? We think it should be when the hashtag #airplanefood has reached a post count of 1 million on Instagram!