Meal service still delivers for airlines with flight reductions

Air North, a small airline based in Canada’s Yukon territory capital of Whitehorse, has long prided itself on its food. 

In fact, said Michael Bock, the carrier’s manager of catering and cabin services, while others try to enhance the in-flight experience with seatback entertainment systems, Air North does so with food. 

Before Covid, Air North served local Arctic char with red Thai curry and lemongrass on its longest route, between Whitehorse and Ottawa, Bock said. Another item was bison shepherd’s pie, made with local bison, of course. 

Air North’s fresh-baked cheesecakes are so popular among its customers that in 2016 the carrier began selling them to local markets. Other items, including shepherd’s pie, soon followed. 

So when the pandemic forced Air North to reduce its flight schedule by approximately two-thirds and forced Bock to furlough as many as 13 of 16 kitchen workers, he took the next logical step: In April, Air North began offering its own meal delivery service, which it calls the Flight Kitchen.

“This kind of gave me an opportunity to try something that I had given thought to, but I never had time for,” Bock said. 

The Flight Kitchen offers its Whitehorse customers a menu of 17 items for frozen delivery, all of which cost less than 15 Canadian dollars (less than $12).

Air North isn’t the only airline that has gotten creative with its food service in order to scratch out a bit of revenue during the Covid-19 crisis. Thai Airways has sold fried dough sticks, called pa tong go, on the streets outside its Bangkok ticket offices plus a wider variety of items inside those offices. 

In November, South Korea’s Jin Air began selling ready-made meals, such as beef goulash pasta, in the same light-green boxes it uses in-flight. According to the Korea Herald, the carrier sold more than 10,000 of the meals in the first month. And Cathay Pacific offers delivery service to homes near Hong Kong Airport, according to the South China Morning Post. 

Closer to home, American Airlines launched its own riff on the delivery concept in January with a wine subscription service based on the curated list the carrier typically reserves for customers fortunate enough to qualify for entry to one of its Flagship lounges. 

Back at Air North, Bock says Flight Kitchen has been a rousing success. The carrier sold approximately 7,000 meals for delivery last year in the small Whitehorse market, enabling Bock to bring his staff size up to six. And frozen Air North cuisine has recently entered three more Whitehorse grocery stores.

“I knew people liked our food,” Bock said. “But I didn’t know we’d have success with it like this.”