Food fight: Airlines are going to war over feeding their wealthiest passengers

Short of fresh ideas for snazzy new suites and lounges to lure the lucky few who fly premium, airlines are turning to caviar and champagne

If you are fortunate enough to take a Qatar Airways business-class flight from Heathrow to Doha these days, you are in for a new treat. Qatar is the first airline to serve caviar in business class. Airlines usually only serve it in first class, and even then, not all airlines. British Airways stopped serving it years ago. 
Qatar Airways offers business-class passengers 15g of Baerii from the Siberian sturgeon in the traditional way, with garnishes of crème fraîche, chopped chives, chopped red onion and crumbled hard-boiled egg. It is paired with Balik-style salmon, blinis and Melba toast. You can enjoy it at any time during the flight (but, alas, only once). 
The service has started on 13 routes to and from Doha, including London, Paris, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore and Sydney. Xia Cai, Qatar Airways’ new product chief, says the “exclusive” menu adds “an extra touch of luxury”. Qatar Airways already serves Imperial Beluga caviar in first class and the extension to business class will make it one of the biggest caviar customers in the world. 
The upgrade, ordered by Qatar Airways’ new chief executive, Badr Mohammed Al Meer, is the most recent salvo on the new front line of airline competition. The top carriers are running out of ideas for snazzy new suites, showers, bars and lounges to lure the lucky few who can afford to fly in business and first class, so they are turning to gourmet food and wine. 
Airlines battle for chefs. Qantas holds Sydneysider Neil Perry close – and it’s not hard to see why. The winner of the Icon Award at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2024 is regarded by many as the most innovative chef in the sky. Many of the meals served on the flying kangaroo’s long-haul routes are designed to either wake you up or put you to sleep, to help nudge you on to the time zone of your destination and minimise jet lag – vital when heading Down Under.  
For dinner, expect roast chicken broth with shiitake mushrooms and sugar snap peas, followed by a steak sandwich and, for dessert, pistachio cake with vanilla rose cream. “Protein, complex carbohydrates and dairy generate tryptophan, which produces melatonin [the sleep-inducing hormone],” Perry explains. Breakfast is bircher muesli, followed by a bowl of cauliflower, mint, chickpeas, and a poached egg with harissa dressing, with a flat white or two. “Spice stimulates the metabolism and wakes you up,” says Perry. 
Singapore Airlines, which has worked with Gordon Ramsay, is about to launch new on-board menus from Monica Galetti, who learnt her trade at Le Gavroche and is a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals. She will create four seasonal menus which fuse her South Pacific roots with her classical French training for premium customers. 
Airlines that do not favour big-name chefs are keen to sign exclusive big-money deals for wines and spirits. Emirates, which has invested nearly £1 billion in its champagne and wine programme with six million bottles in cellars – more than any other airline – has sole rights to serve Dom Pérignon Vintage 2013, Dom Pérignon Vintage Rosé 2008, Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2 2004, Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Blanc 2013 and Veuve Clicquot Vintage Blanc 2015. It is the only airline to serve Hennessy Paradis Cognac (to its first-class customers).
Sir Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, deals directly with top vineyards. “We buy en primeur and invest to lay down millions of bottles until they are at their best. People are frequently surprised at the amazing vintages we uncork onboard. Some are so rare and desirable that top restaurants would charge the price of an air ticket for a bottle.”
Emirates also offers a lengthy cocktail list with three different martinis. This would have been a welcome sight for the late Queen Elizabeth II, who liked the classic gin cocktail before entertaining in the royal suite of the jets on which she flew. 
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad has exclusive rights to serve Cipriani’s signature Bellini, which comes in a branded bottle. There is a non-alcoholic version, too. It alone offers 2016 Billecart-Salmon with caviar in first class and Duval-Leroy’s Femme De Champagne Grand Cru 2002 with afternoon tea in the Residence, the three-room mini apartment on its A380.
Singapore Airlines has the exclusive rights to serve Krug Grande Cuvée with caviar in first class and suites. There’s 2013 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, in case – gasp! – you don’t care for Krug. The carrier is also the only airline to offer 19-year-old Glenmorangie whisky.  
The battle for hearts and stomachs at 39,000ft even extends to snacks and coffee. Emirates serves gourmet cinema snacks for movie watchers, including salted popcorn, edamame with rock salt, lobster rolls, and Wagyu beef sliders. Singapore Airlines has a coffee menu with beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Jamaica.  
The best cheeky snack of all? Qantas has a toaster in its Airbus A380s, enabling cabin crew to serve Vegemite toast whenever you fancy it.