US Airways launches in-flight drinks menu called US Airways MarketPlace
US Airways has started selling a variety of new cocktails and premium beverages on its flights. The latest offerings of beverages complement the popular, premium snacks that the carrier has been selling since the summer of 2009, US Airways, based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, said in a statement.
The new in-flight drinks menu – named US Airways MarketPlace – includes the following:
- The all-natural Stirrings’ cocktail mixers (costing US $8 each), with the choice of a Margarita, Pomegranate Martini, or a Mai Tai
- AriZona Arnold Palmer Lite Half & Half, an iced tea-and-lemonade combination ($3)
- Red Bull ($3)
- Iced Starbucks Frapuccino Coffee Drink ($3).
US Airways – which provides fizzy drinks, coffee, juices as also water to customers free of charge – said it has chosen Cafe Mystique, a “gourmet blend” by Higgins & Burke, as its new coffee to be served on board.
Also, the airline has added Beck’s, a German Pilsner, to its list of beers. Till now, US Airways has been serving on board bears such as Budweiser and Bud Light, spirits and wines priced at US $7 each.
Apart from these, the US Airways MarketPlace menu features an array of sweet and snacks as well as fresh meals on longer flights.
The prices of food varieties, the airline said in the statement, range from $3 for snacks to $7 for fresh meals.
US Airways also will make available Stirrings cocktails as well as select individual snacks in the main cabin on all its international flights.
Hector Adler, US Airways’ vice-president for in-flight services, said that the new beverages menu called US Airways MarketPlace “expands the carrier’s growing a la carte offering, thus offering the passengers more choices in-flight than ever before.”
The airline’s enlarged selection of choices, Adler added, “is sure to offer something for everyone.”
More information on the products offered in the US Airways MarketPlace menu can be had from the website usairways.com/marketplace
US Airways, along with is subsidiaries US Airways Express and US Airways Shuttle, operates flights daily to destinations in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and Europe. It is a member of the Star Alliance network of airlines.
- US Airways to resume serving non-alcoholic drinks free of charge on board from March 1, 2009US Airways, the low-cost airline based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will resume serving non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water to economy-class passengers free of charge from March 1, 2009. However, the carrier will continue to charge fees for some other items, including in-flight blankets and pillows. Also, US Airways will continue to charge alcoholic drinks at $7 each. US Airways was the only major domestic airline based in the United States that started charging for non-alcoholic drinks, from August 1, 2008 – at the rate of $2 for sodas and juices and $1 for coffee. The carrier had also jacked up prices of beer, wine and cocktails from $5 to $7 from the same date. It may be noted that flight attendants at US Airways had opposed charging passengers for non-alcoholic beverages on the ground that the responsibility for selling them in-flight and dealing with “unhappy passengers” hindered their ability to ensure safety in the cabin. Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways, said in a statement that making passengers pay for sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water had become “a competitive disadvantage” for the airline. US Airways, Parker explained, was compelled to add the fees in August 2008 after the price of aviation turbine fuel skyrocketed to a record $4.36 a gallon in July 2008. The cost of fuel has since dropped by as much as 70%. The statement said US Airways was “committed to its a la carte service style” where passengers pay more to check bags into the hold or for the use of a blanket and pillow. US Airways had earlier said that it expected to earn $400 million to $500 million in 2009 from fees charged on any services beyond the basic fare, including additional costs for select seats and also the plan to sell pillows and blankets in-flight. The fees for non-alcoholic beverage, Doug Parker said in the statement, had become “a focal point that detracts from improved on-time performance and baggage-handling.” Meanwhile, the United States Transportation Department said in a press release that US Airways recorded the best on-time performance in 2008 among the six large US-based airlines that use hub airports as a part of their networks. Earlier, US Airways had ranked either last or near-last in terms of on-time performance.
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