Swiss is trialling a new initiative aimed at reducing the amount of fresh food items which get thrown away on its flights.
The collaboration with anti-food waste app Too Good To Go sees Swiss offer unsold food items at reduced prices on the last flights of the day on its European network from Geneva.
Availability is communicated via an inflight announcement, and passengers can purchase bags containing one, two or three fresh food items at one third of their usual price.
The catch is that the bag’s content is not revealed in advance, so customers are effectively taking pot luck – or as Swiss puts it the bags “remain a surprise for the purchaser”.
The trial is being conducted during August and September, with head of Western Switzerland Romain Vetter stating that first results “have been promising”.
“The new approach has been well received by our passengers on the flights concerned,” Vetter added. “We’re now awaiting a final analysis of the trials’ findings to decide if we should extend it to further routes.”
Swiss stressed that it “already uses historical sales data for each flight to tailor its fresh product uplifts as closely as possible to likely passenger demand”, but CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour said that “Thinking about sustainability in all our products, services and processes is part of our Swiss DNA”.
“Managing waste on board is an important part of our commitment to greater sustainability, said Goudarzi Pour. “We hope to significantly reduce unused food on board our aircrafts by introducing this service.”
Earlier this year Swiss unveiled details of its ‘Swiss Saveurs’ buy-on-board menu for economy passengers on short and medium-hauls flights.
And this month Swiss introduced a new ‘casual dining’ option for business class passengers on its long-haul flights, allowing customers to opt to receive their starter, main course and dessert together and at a time of their choosing, rather than one course at a time during the main meal service.
