AIRLINE MEALS PROVIDED BY INFLIGHT KITCHEN (A Short introduction to what is an Airline Catering)

By: Abdulatif "Chef Tato" Sangcupan

This article has been created primarily to introduce my students and the reading public the business of Airline Catering. I worked in an Airline catering since 1997 with several experienced Chef that really honed my Culinary skills and talent. Able to understand and learned the techniques, politics and variety of menu including diversity of food around the globe because airlines from different origin required us to prepare their food preference.We served thousands of passengers of Airlines going to different destinations including the Muslim pilgrims going to Makkah , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

To fully understand what is an Inflight catering let me introduce to you some definition of terms commonly used in this field.

AIRLINE CATERING

The business of providing an aircraft with the food, beverages, and serving equipment needed to serve the air passengers during a flight.

AIRLINE CATERER

An airline caterer, like In-flight Catering is producing, packing, and delivering foods, drinks and serving equipment to the customer aircraft departing from Manila's international airport.

FLIGHT KITCHEN

The place where all catering requirements are prepared. Normally, the Flight Kitchen prepares all needed food items. However, sometimes the airline, by choice, brings its own food items, such as frozen main dishes, sugar sachets, coffee creamers, etc.

PASSENGER MEAL

One or more food items served to a passenger:

On very short flights only drinks are served.

On flights of less than 1 - hour duration, only a sandwich or a pastry may be served.

On regional (Southeast Asian) flights, a meal tray with salad, a hot dish and a dessert is normally served. On very long flights (10-15 hours duration), up to 3 full meals (trays) are served to each passenger.

Some people fly very often on the same route on the same airline. In order for these people not to have to eat the same food on every flight, the airlines change the menus at regular intervals. We call this Menu Cycles or Menu Rotations

HALAL

A word that tells a food item is slaughtered and prepared in accordance with Muslim religious tradition. Halal means good and pure, food is never contained pork or contaminated with pork , pork by-products or alcohol. Neither are they prepared with tools having been in contact with such products.Halal does not only dealing with food.Muslims are guided by principles of Halal and Haram. Haram is an opposite of Halal.

FLIGHT

It is defined either as: a) The operation and flying of an aircraft (e.g. a flight to Hongkong"); or in catering terminology, b) the foods and things that together make up a complete set of catering for a particular flight (e.g." the bakery has to plan for the next flight"). The flight is composed of different things for different departments or sections (e.g. in the kitchen and on the highloader truck.

THE CUSTOMER

Practically all the customers of In-flight Catering are foreign airlines, and many are from Muslim countries. The airline representatives that decide on what catering or meals to use are normally located in the respective airline headquarters abroad, but may also be the local airline management in the Philippines.

The decision on what food to use is usually made during a food Presentation held for the airline customer representatives at In-flight Catering Flight Kitchen.

All details on what catering to provide on the aircraft are decided by the airline only, not by In-flight Catering.

 THE AIRCRAFT

 The aircraft operating in international traffic from Manila's international airport have from 60-450 passenger seats (from Fokker 100 up to Boeing 707 to 747-400). An aircraft has 3 passenger classes: First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class.

The doors on the left side of the aircraft are referred to as Passenger Doors. On the right side you will find the Service Doors, where catering and other services are loaded.

In the cabin of each aircraft you will find 2 or more galleys (or pantry) where the catering goods are stored and prepared by the crew. In the Flight Kitchen the catering goods are always prepared in so-called Meal Trolleys. These trolleys are stowed in the aircraft galleys: which trolleys in turn are used by the cabin crew during the passenger meal service during the flight. 

THE PASSENGER

Although the staffs of the In-flight Catering never get to meet them, the Passenger is the ultimate end user of the In-flight Catering’s products. This is why great care is taken, not only to prepare in the flight kitchen, but also when the tableware and colors are chosen, and when the cabin crew is being trained.

The (in-flight) catering product is a very important part of the overall passenger service concept of an airline, and may make the difference for the passenger when choosing an airline for his next trip.

THE CREW

For all practical purposes, the Cabin Crew is the In-flight Catering "concrete" customer. They meet them every day on each departure. They officially receive and sign for In-flight Catering products and services.

The Crew's opinions about In-flight Catering matter a lot in the assessment of our performance and standard. The so­-called Cabin Report, the flight report of the Chief of the Cabin Service Crew, customarily serves as the written appraisal of In-flight Catering products and services.

THE FLIGHT KITCHEN

The Flight Kitchen is composed of these main sections: Goods Receiving and Warehouse (stores) Kitchen (food production areas) Dishwashing (start of the flowline) Tray setting and Equipment packing Beverage packing (Bonded Stores) Dispatch and Transportation Customer Service (flight handling)

The In-House Support functions are:

1.     Quality Assurance & Control

2.     Human Resources (personnel services)

3.     Accounting

4.     Administration & Security

5.     Sales & Marketing

6.     Purchasing

7.     Production

8.     Facilities Maintenance

9.     Environmental Management

10.                        Information Technology (computers)

Every department is headed by a manager, and consists of several sections.

The Flight Kitchen operates 24 hours a day. Outside office hours, when management is not present, the Duty Officer (or officer-in-charge) holds the operational authority of the General Manager.

The Flight Kitchen features state-of-the-art machinery and equipment, and is designed for maximum efficiency and ideal energy conservation.

Safety of man and machines is everybody's responsibility. Use the allocated protective gear, and comply with all instructions and laid-down procedures. Security is of great concern to both airlines and caterers alike. In-flight Catering aims to comply fully with all local and international regulations. To this end, all personnel and visitors are required to strictly observe all instructions and security measures.

THE FOOD 

All preparation of food is made according to airline customer specifications.

For Muslim airlines, the code for Halal preparations is followed at all times.

The passenger meals are planned in relation to the (meal) time of the day, the flying time (duration of flight), and the space restrictions in the aircraft galley.

The most typical meals are:

• Cold Snack or Sandwich ( SN) 
• Breakfast (BF) 
• Hot Snack (HS) 
• Lunch (LN) 
• Dinner or Supper (DN or SP)

Very often Special Meals are needed for passengers who

have medical, religious or other constraints; e.g.

• Diet Meal 
• Vegetarian Meal 
• Low Fat Meals 
• Also, Special Children's Meals are provided on request.

In First Class, the meals are abundant and refined, usually with several choices of all courses, served on bone china. First Class normally has their meal table set with tablecloth (no trays) and silver cutlery.

In Business Class meals are either served on set table, or on tray. Depending on the length of the flight, there are 2 or more choices for each course, served on china dinner plates.
Economy Class has the complete meal served on a tray, with melamine plates.

THE FLIGHT OPERATION

The entire flight handling process is supervised and controlled by an assigned Customer Service Officer (CSC).

Before the "Flight" leaves the Flight Kitchen, every catering item is checked in the loading bay area.

When everything is all right, the complete catering "Flight" is stowed onto the Highloaders. A Highloader is a specially constructed truck that has loading doors both in the back and in the front. With the help of a powerful hydraulic jack it can lift its loaded body up to any aircraft door, up to 6.5 meters above ground.

The highloaders must reach the docking gate (aircraft parking area) before the aircraft reaches the gate. This is necessary in order to assure the airline station manager that the catering service is ready.

After the incoming passengers have left the aircraft, the highloaders align with the aircraft Service Doors, and start unloading the "old" catering, and loading the new "flight". Upon completion of loading the aircraft, the CSO gives a briefing to the Cabin Crew (the Handover).

During the boarding of the passengers, the CSO and the refrigerated Express (stand-by) delivery truck waits at the gate for possible last-minute orders. Before the doors close for departure, the CSO obtains the signature for the deliveries from the airline representative. 

THE TIMING 
The key word in Airline Catering is PRECISION! 
In the airline catering business every step is planned well in advance. Every link in the process of running the Flight Kitchen is controlled by TIME. A failure in one link may lead to a failure in the next link, and so on. 
This is why a lot of attention is put into PLANNING. 
Therefore, your conformity to CORRECTNESS and TIMING becomes necessary and obligatory.

THE CATERING PEOPLE

Regardless of duties and responsibility within the company,. the people of In-flight Catering are best characterized as:

• Honest and Cordial 
• Reliable 
• Resourceful 
• Teamwork-tuned 
• Service-oriented 
• Hygiene-observant 
• Quality-conscious 
• The best people to judge In-flight Catering performance are: 
• Customers 
• Partners (suppliers, etc.) 
• Seniors 
• Owners

THE WORLD-CLASS QUALITY

Regardless of where in the world the airlines pick up their catering, they always expect the same standards of Quality and Service.Through the management of an In-flight Catering aims to live up to, and exceed what can be called world-class Quality standards.While meeting all local and national requirements, In-flight Catering also meets the highest of all international standards for quality, efficiency and performance.

THE QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM

In-flight Catering assent to the Quality Assurance System of Gate Gourmet, plus the requirements of its customers

The main portions of the assurance systems are:

• Service Quality(including consistency and instructions Compliance) 
• HAS (Halal Assurance System)
• Food Safety
• Personal Hygiene
• General Hygiene

THE SAFETY OF FOOD

No single subject is more important than the safety of In-flight Catering food products. For In-flight Catering business this is a matter of REMAINING OR CLOSING SHOP!

Accordingly, it becomes every employee's personal responsibility to fully and sincerely comply with the related rules and regulations.

The RAW MATERIALS

Extensive efforts are made by the concerned departments to ensure that the qualities of In-flight catering raw materials are the safest and the best.

Every supplier is required to comply with the strict HACCP (Hazards Analysis & Critical Control Points) regulations.

The TEMPERATURE

Bacteria grow ideally fast in food holding 5- 65 °C

(40°F -140°F). This temperature range is often referred to as the DANGER ZONE. This is why all perishable foods must be kept at less than 5°C or higher than 65 °C always. In modern refrigerators, the medium setting is approximately 5ºC. However, you must use a professional thermometer to verify this.

Therefore, affected departments and sections continually probe the temperature of the foods, wherever in the process it is found.

The HYGIENE

Together with good temperature control, hygiene and cleanliness is the way to maintain foods in a safe state.

In the food production process the work tables, machines, tools and utensils must be sterilized and kept clean at all times.

All catering staff must maintain good personal hygiene at all times. Food-handling staff, however, has a particular responsibility to stay clinically clean (disinfected) when preparing meals. In this respect. GOOD HAND HYGIENE is priority number one.

THE TEAM

As mentioned earlier, airline catering is a chain of inter­dependent link; the processes are so tightly timed; there is no room for slip-ups.

In a team, airline catering staffs rely on each other to perform correctly and on-time, all the time.

In a team airline catering staffs help each other.

In a team airline catering staffs consider their colleagues the INTERNAL CUSTOMER.

THE PERFORMANCE

The In-flight Catering aims to deliver zero-defect products and services - the first time, all the time.

The In-flight Catering has and develops tools to measure their performance.The ultimate measure is their ability to GAIN AND KEEP CUSTOMERS, and to receive their customers' opinions and suggestions.

QUALITY PEOPLE with COMMITMENT

People working in  an In-flight Catering takes upon itself to be a professional and fair people and with respect, quality and enthusiasm with or without personal merit.

A team performance, every employee will have a fair opportunity to develop and chance to grow in the company.