New onboard menus have been introduced on all Virgin Australia flights following months of extensive customer research.
The new business class menu is focused on quality and simplicity and features locally sourced produce supporting Australian growers and farmers.
Dishes include a range of hot meals, healthy salads and Australian classics, served on tableware, including crockery, glassware and cutlery, providing a quality in-flight experience and further reducing single-use packaging as part of the airline’s continued commitment to sustainability.
Promising high quality and simplicity, the new menu will rotate on a bi-monthly basis and comes with all-inclusive premium Australian wine and beer, plus soft beverages and spirits.
As part of the new Virgin Australia business class experience, guests will be offered two menu choices on every flight, appropriate to the time of day and length of the flight.
The new business class experience also triggered a training refresh for the airline’s cabin crew, with new hospitality standards that focus on customer engagement allowing more time in the cabin with guests.
Virgin Australia Group CEO and Managing Director Jayne Hrdlicka commented: “We’re continuing to write a new chapter at Virgin Australia and we’re incredibly focused on creating great experiences for our guests. Our new business class menu and service design is high quality, relaxed, uncomplicated and exactly what our guests and team members have told us they want. I’m really proud of what we’ve delivered.
“The launch of our new business class food experience and a commitment to reduce airfares even further by the middle of this year, is a really great example of just how irresistible it is to fly with Virgin Australia.”
Virgin Australia General Manager Product and Customer, Sarah Adam said the new business class menu had been designed with altitude in mind. “It’s well known that when you’re high above the clouds you lose some sense of taste and smell so this was a really important factor in designing the new menu so our food not only looks great but tastes great in the air.”
“We’ve really dialled-up the flavours in the food with the right seasoning and textures to provide a very competitive business class experience for domestic travel in Australia.
“Supporting Australian farmers and producers was another important factor in designing the menu so we’ll have seasonal Australian produce from local producers in dishes throughout the year,” said Adam.
In economy class, Virgin Australia has removed predetermined snacks in favour of a buy onboard model.
According to the airline, the new economy buy onboard menu is designed to give travellers greater value, taking the previously included snack out of the ticket price, to provide great value fares every day.
Initially, the menu will feature the most popular snack and beverage items, including cheese and crackers and Australian wine, before a greater range of menu items are introduced later in the year when travel demand is expected to resume to near pre-COVID levels.
As part of the economy experience, Virgin Australia will continue to serve complimentary tea, coffee and water on every flight.
Commenting on the reintroduction of an Economy buy onboard menu, Hrdlicka said: “Today’s customers are more conscious about what they consume than ever before. We like to choose what we eat and what we drink throughout the day. We are simply extending that choice onboard as well.
“By removing snacks that aren’t valued by our guests we’re able to structurally reduce airfares making it even cheaper to fly. We’ll continue to offer complimentary tea, coffee and water on all flights and the opportunity for guests to purchase their favourite menu items at a reasonable price,” she said.
A buy onboard menu for flights within Western Australia and between Perth and Darwin will launch on 30 March 2021. Until this date, the Economy offering will continue to include a complimentary snack.
