A lobster tail starter on an Emirates Airline first-class flight A lobster tail starter on an Emirates Airline first-class flight

Industry impact
One company that has noticed a rise in demand for new and improved food is Saudi Arabian Airline Catering Company (SAACC).

Khalid Sultan Sheshah helped set up the Damman arm of the company in 1999. Today the company puts out 6,000 meals a day, and up to 15,000 at peak times, and works regularly with eight airlines, including Air India, KLM, Lufthansa and Malaysian Airlines.
He admits that profits are growing year-on-year, and “by quite a nice percentage!”, he laughs.

The travel business is growing,” he goes on to clarify, “especially in the Gulf area, and therefore so are catering businesses, and any other businesses related to it. The Middle East is a phenomenon compared to the rest of the world. In the eastern province of Saudi there is a big construction boom and development, and we are trying to take our quiet share from this market.”

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But developing menus for an airline, and sourcing produce is not a quick process, especially in the Middle East: “It usually takes three months on average to develop a menu and put out the meals,” says Sheshah.

“The airlines take time in dealing with us, and we respect that. We cannot say no to anybody, but sometimes [when they come to us with requests that are difficult to achieve, like a menu with ingredients that have to be flown in from the other side of the world] I make alternative suggestions and have to advise them. But then, if they don’t accept the alternative, I go away and will bring their ingredient from the moon!”

Reaping the rewards
So, will all of this investment actually achieve the desired result – customer satisfaction levels in today’s ever competitive aviation market, and consequently return custom?

“We want to build a very strong brand,” explains Kimmeringer. “It’s a whole combination of the catering, the seat, the experience. With all of this combined you can have an impact on a person and hopefully get them to think, ‘Hey this is fantastic, I want to fly Etihad.’ Guests expect a very high standard and we promise them we’ll deliver – you can’t take it away.”