Turkish Airlines unveiled its impressive new in-flight dining menus this week, bringing new and delicious flavours on board for passengers to enjoy. Inflight Editor Satu Dahl was delighted to attend the launch of the new dishes in Istanbul’s beautiful Esma Sultan events venue.
Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines flies to 344 worldwide destinations, including 291 international and 53 domestic routes in 129 countries. Türkiye’s flag carrier is proud to fly to more countries than any other in the world and frequently earns praise for the quality of service it offers its passengers.
To continue innovating its onboard offering and to provide delicious and varied dishes to passengers, Turkish Airlines has now renewed its dining menus for domestic and international flights in both business and economy classes.
The catwalk that caters for all tastes
One of the key focus areas for Turkish Airlines when designing the dishes was to follow healthy nutrition trends, especially using protein, vegetables, fruits and lower carbohydrate products. In addition, the menus are prepared daily by expert chefs using the freshest products and use boutique cooking techniques specially designed for high volumes.
The menu launch event in Istanbul on 11 May at the Esma Sultan events venue featured a detailed look into the new offering, as well as an impressive “food fashion show” that saw Turkish Airlines’ in-flight chefs and cabin crew members showcasing the carrier’s impressive new dishes. This was followed by a very enjoyable tasting session of the courses in all cabin classes.
Plenty of choice
The carrier has put a lot of thought into the diversified offering in both business and economy class.
In economy, it now offers egg dishes, homemade muesli and cheese varieties for breakfast hours on flights, and during mealtimes, regional appetisers will be served alongside freshly prepared pasta and grilled options.
In business class, homemade pasta, dumplings and spaghetti options are available, as well as main courses such as Adana kebab cooked over charcoal and grilled fish. Several different regional appetisers are also offered.
Previously, Turkish Airlines offered two main course options during breakfast service but now three different main courses will be served. Passengers can choose from dishes such as pancakes, crepes and French toast, and healthier breakfast items are also offered.
Business class passengers can also choose from a variety of homemade non-alcoholic cocktails and detox drinks that are made from healthy ingredients.
Local focus
The new menu with catering company Do & Co aims to promote Türkiye’s flavoursome cuisine and includes both traditional Turkish dishes and world cuisine. The airline revealed that it sources 80% of the products used in its menus from local producers and local and seasonal products are prioritised. Just some examples of the delicious ingredients used in the dishes are Rize tea, Afyon kaymak cream, Erzincan honeycomb and many more regional products.
Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bolat was present at the event and commented: “As the flag carrier that offers the world’s finest flavours to its guests through privileged concepts, we have prepared a menu that features traces of both traditional Turkish cuisine and world cuisines in our renewed menus.
“With this new concept, we have also initiated practices aimed at reducing plastic use and packaging waste within the scope of Turkish Airlines’ Sustainability principle,” he continued. “While presenting Turkish flavours to our guests, we are also aiming to upload our paper menu cards to digital platforms for the sake of sustainability, allowing future generations to experience these tastes as well.
“We hope that our new menus will be appreciated by our guests, and we believe that we will continue our award-winning leadership in the field of inflight dining.”
Inflight also got to take part in an exclusive media round table with Prof. Bolat held prior to the event. During the briefing, Prof. Bolat reiterated the airline’s commitment to provide the best possible in-flight dining experience to customers: “We serve 5-star meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner – it is costly, but our passengers deserve it,” he stated.
He also revealed big news for the carrier in other areas of the business, such as a planned order of 600 additional aircraft, as well as free wi-fi for passengers in all classes in less than two years’ time – the carrier is currently in the process of choosing the supplier for this and is looking at Starlink connectivity as an option among others. These are both very exciting developments which Inflight will be keeping a close eye on!
