Malaysia Airlines serves Indian cuisine in-flight

Malaysia Airlines, the flag carrier of Malaysia, has begun serving Indian menu from November 1, 2008, in all classes of its international medium and long-haul flights irrespective of fare paid.

Hayati Ali, general manager (in-flight services) of Malaysia Airlines, was quoted as elaborating on the airline’s new move: “Malaysia Airlines aims to deliver outstanding in-flight food and beverage offerings in an effort to position its brand as a Five-Star Value Carrier. The airline will use the most creative and exceptional in-flight meal standards as well as quality set along the halal benchmark.”

“This Customer Value Proposition initiative, she added, “is one of the outcomes of our established partnerships and relationships with internationally renowned brands, restaurants, celebrity chefs and catering personalities for related premium products and services to be featured on our flights. Through this initiative, we hope to create better and positive passenger perception of our food and beverage products via stronger focus on route specific needs.”

Malaysia Airlines, based in Subang, Malaysia, operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and has its secondary hub at Kota Kinabalu. The carrier maintains a strong presence in South-East Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Australia between Europe and Australasia. It also operates trans-Atlantic flights from Kuala Lumpur to Newark, via Stockholm, and trans-Pacific flights from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles via Taipei.

A statement from Malaysia Airlines said the new Indian menu, designed with the joint efforts of the airline’s main caterer LSG Skychefs and chef Satish Arora and Kannan from TajSATS, “would see a refreshed array of Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. The meals will be served in-flight on all Malaysia Airlines flights between Malaysia and India.”

The menu includes Chettinad chicken, Kerala vegetarian curry, Kodaikaanal mutton, Chettinad cauliflower/mushroom curry, Gongra lamb and vegetable rice briyani, depending on the actual meal cycles applicable on each flight.

Malaysia Airlines, the statement added, is the only Malaysian full-service carrier that continues to serve complimentary in-flight meals since 1972.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines has added its 10th flight to Delhi, the capital of India. With 10 weekly flights to Kuala Lumpur from Delhi, the carrier’s seat capacity from Delhi has risen to 2,900 a week.

According to Devinder Bindra, Malaysia Airlines’ marketing manager-South Asia, the airline will now operate 32 weekly flights from its 5 gateways in India – New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Datuk Seri Idris Jala, managing director of Malaysia Airlines, said in an interview in Singapore: “The carrier may cut capacity further as the global financial crisis cuts business and leisure travel demand. If things get really bad, we will review capacity one more time. We will always make sure capacity matches demand. If there’s no demand, obviously we will have to cut capacity.”

Malaysia Airlines currently cuts costs by farming out ground-handling services in Rome in Italy and Sydney in Australia to other companies.

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, including Qantas Airways, the flag carrier of Australia, and Korean Air Lines have already cut capacity in 2008 as slowdown in traffic and higher prices of fuel were eating into their profits.