THE WORLD'S BEST AIRLINE ONBOARD CATERING AWARDS

		BEST AIRLINE ONBOARD CATERING
	"the world's most respected and recognised Airline Awards"

"Onboard catering has often been the butt of much criticism for the airline industry" says Edward Plaisted, (CEO of Skytrax), "but the reality is that the large majority of the industry delivers a good quality product, and in recent years most of the legacy carriers have been able to maintain high standards, often in fairly adverse conditions".

"Of course at the front end of the aircraft the meal spend is not inconsiderable, with vintage wines, champagnes, caviar, lobster and more regularly featuring on the menu. Alongside the food itself, the key changes in recent years for First Class have been upon offering more flexibility in meal times, meals choices - often working on the basis that less is more" added Plaisted. "Cathay Pacific are the winner of this year's Best First Class Onboard Catering Award, with their new First Class concept clearing being a success with customers. Whilst visual presentation, menu choice and food quality are paramount, it is often the finer details of galley food handling and final service delivery that impact on the meal quality, and Cathay Pacific are ticking the box in all these areas."

"In the year that Austrian celebrates it's 50th anniversary, the airline has another honour to mark the achievement, winning the Award for Best Business Class Onboard Catering for the second year running" said Plaisted. "Austrian has developed a very strong reputation amongst customers for the high standards of long-haul business class catering, and their gourmet cuisine prepared by Do & Co continues to impress".

Qantas was named winner of the Best Economy Class Onboard Catering Award, based on their longer haul, international operations, moving up from 5th position in 2007. Etihad Airways, the 2007 winner of this Award maintained a very strong performance with a 2nd place this year, ahead of Austrian, Emirates and Asiana Airlines in 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

Further enquiries should be directed to:

Mr Peter Miller
Marketing Director
SKYTRAX RESEARCH
E-mail: miller@airlinequality.com