The subject of airline food just won't go away. This week it was mentioned in a court case that Cathay Pacific's cabin waste, presumably including leftover food, is allegedly 'recycled' by the Kowloon Fishmeal Factory. Whether or not the end product is fed to fish, poultry or other animals, this seems a questionable practice, since it may result in feeding flesh back to the same species. But I digress.
Last week's item about British Airways replacing its long-haul hot breakfast with a 'deli bag' sandwich brought a swift response. Martin Spurrier, executive vice-president at Edelman, the airline's public relations firm, wrote: 'What did we do to deserve the swipe in the Post on Saturday? I understand that my troops did everything they could for you before your deadline, and still got rubbished.' (Sorry Martin, but even they couldn't restore the bangers and beans so the story stood, with or without message management).
This week BA set a target of #300 million (HK$4.2 billion) savings over the next two years, including a 30 per cent cut at head office and 15 per cent in operational areas.
Some 'behind the scenes' changes have already been made to the in-flight service, according to Edelman. 'We now return cater on some of our flights, loading enough meals onto the aircraft at London for customers on both the outbound and inbound sector.' I'm saying nothing.
'We have also removed some unpopular spirits from the bar,' a spokeswoman added. Fine, exorcising in-flight ghosts is always a good idea.
'All of these changes add up to a cost saving for British Airways without an impact on the customer.'
