Qantas will introduce its new inflight dining option for passengers in long-haul economy later this month.
The menu will feature a wider choice of meals, 50 per cent larger servings and a faster service.
It will debut on the Australian airline's Melbourne-Dubai-London route on November 25, followed by Sydney-Dubai-London the next day.
Barramundi poached in a lightly spiced coconut sauce with noodles, sugar snaps, choy sum and chilli
New dishes on the menu will include smoky barbecue beef with roasted sweet potato, broccoli and corn; honey roasted chicken farro salad and seasonal vegetables with pumpkin and sesame seeds; scrambled eggs with chicken sausage, tomato, hash brown and baked beans; and Ruby & Roy's traditional Greek yoghurt with granola.
Self-service grazing options will include pulled beef sliders with capsicum and tomato relish, Weis ice-cream bars, Maltesers and fresh fruit.
Shortly after take-off passengers will be served a welcome drink from Bickford's signature range, featuring flavours exclusive to Qantas such as lemon and elderflower, and pink grapefruit.
A team of Qantas food and drink experts spent a year researching and developing the new menu and service. Trials were run on a number of international flights and, the airline said, customer satisfaction on those flights almost doubled.
The carrier has also extended its Select on Q-Eat to economy passengers on international flights. The pre-order meal service was launched in 2012 as exclusive to business class, before it was last year rolled-out to premium economy (see news, September 2013).
It offers customers the facility to pre-order meals online between seven days and 12 hours prior to departure.
Qantas economy passengers can soon order food online with Select on Q-Eat
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said: "The new menu offers more generous meals and an increase from two to four meal options. We also have new meal categories, including a healthy option, comfort food and a meal inspired by the route itself, like smoky barbecue beef on our US flights.
"We have extended our Select on Q Eat service to economy passengers enabling them to pre-order their meal online with access to an exclusive dish as the fourth dish.
"Together with new serving plates, which remove the need for trays, our crew will be able to serve and clear meals up to 30 minutes faster giving them more time to interact and assist passengers."
The new dining option will be rolled out as follows:
- November 25: Melbourne-Dubai-London
- November 26: Sydney-Dubai-London
- November 28: Tasman
- December 5: Perth-Auckland seasonal service
- December 9: Los Angeles, New York and Dallas/Fort Worth
- January 3: Vancouver seasonal service
- January 13: Singapore
- February 10: Hong Kong
- March 1: Santiago, Johannesburg, Honolulu, Bangkok, Shanghai, Narita, Manila, Jakarta and Noumea
Qantas said it carries five million economy passengers internationally each year.
The carrier in September launched the world's longest A380 route by distance, with a 8,755-mile journey between Sydney and Dallas/Fort Worth (see news, September 29).
Graham Smith
