All Nippon Airways sold over 260,000 inflight meals to travel-starved consumers in the three months leading up to March 12.
Launched in December by Japan’s largest airline, its Sky Kitchen delivery service provides domestic residents with a selection of international economy class meals.
ANA’s offering, which has generated revenue of US$1.8 million to the airline, has proved so popular that meals sell out within minutes on the Shopping A-style online store, according to Forbes.
“Each time we place the meals on our online market site, they sell out within 45 minutes on average. Some items were gone in five minutes, such as beef sukiyaki and hamburger steak demi-glace sauce served with buttered rice and creamy scrambled eggs,” an ANA spokesperson told Forbes.
Prior to the pandemic, ANA’s catering arm produced as many as 30,000 meals per day. The airline’s output has since fallen about 90 per cent.“We hope customers missing their experience of flying can enjoy our inflight meals at home, as we will continue selling to meet their ongoing demand. We hope that after the situation is resolved, they will choose to fly with us because of our high-quality inflight meals,” the airline added in a statement to Business Traveller.
Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia Airlines announced it would make its signature satay available for purchase through its Temptations online store.
Malaysia’s flag carrier said the chicken and beef satays, previously exclusive to business class passengers, will now be available to anyone in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area.
“Our satay has been served onboard since we first took to the skies in 1973 and we are delighted to share it with customers with the rollout of the home delivery service of Malaysia Airlines Signature Satay today,” said Lau Yin May, Malaysia Airlines’ Group Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer.
“During normal times, we uplift 17,000 sticks of satay on our 300 flights daily. Today we are happy to share our Malaysian hospitality with customers, many of whom have not had the opportunity to travel with us for over a year.”
