At 30+ thousand feet in the air there is little difference in what you order. All food tastes equally numb. Malaysian carrier AirAsia seeks to overcome this problem with new in-flight menu called “Santan”.
With this menu, the airline seeks to bring the restaurant experience to its passengers with new dishes such as: Mee Goreng Mamak with Teh Tarik, Nasi Dagang with Chicken Curry and Dodol, Chicken Satay Wrap, Vegetable Briyani or Mac and Cheese with Chicken Meetballs.
Promoting the new menu, AirAsia’s chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said:
I was flying back from Ho Chi Minh yesterday and the nasi dagang I was served tasted superb. Food is a major part of our business, and this revamp is designed to give people not only the lowest fares, but the best quality food which is value for their money.
AirAsia Looking to Regionalize the Menu
The airline, however, is not satisfied with merely serving Malaysian food. According to Fernandes, the next step the carrier will take is to regionalize the Santan menu.
He said:
We will be having foods like green curry, Vietnamese noodles and pad thai to go with the Malaysian food in future, so we can have a range of food that reflects Asean. Also, the people making the Asean foods are from the specific countries, so nothing will be watered down. Some companies think they need to adjust the flavors of certain foods, but I don’t think we need to do that for our food.
Fernandes also said “Santan” will be the in-flight menu across the entire AirAsia Group by October this year. At the moment, the new menu will be available to AirAsia and AirAsia X guests.
Finally, customers can save up to 20 per cent if they pre-book their meals using the Manage My Booking option on airasia.com.