Airport services provider dnata will provide more than five million special meals for its airline partners around the world as travelers fly to reunite with family and friends this holiday season.
According to dnata, from mid-December to Boxing Day (December 26, 2022), the most popular meal among its global airline partners will be served: a traditional roast turkey dinner. The turkey dinner is accompanied by sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and finished with Christmas cake and mince pies.
In the UK, dnata Catering’s traditional roast turkey dinner will be served approximately 8,000 times per day. Additionally, 10,000 tray set items, including mince pies and festive-themed chocolates and beverages, will be distributed.
In the USA, a similar main turkey meal is served. However, pumpkin pie, which is a popular dessert amongst dnata’s American airline partners, will be served instead of a mince pie. There will also be pumpkin cheesecake and stewed apples.
Dnata says that for 2022, airlines have requested additional sweet treats. They include a Yule log and stuffed profiteroles, a gingerbread cookie and a salted chocolate truffle.
In Australia, 75,000 traditional roast turkey meals will be served for international customers, consuming 1.9 tons of meat. Dessert will be a choice between warm fruit pudding, Christmas pudding cheesecake, or gingerbread-spiced crumble topped mousse.
“Festive menus are signed off in November, after they have been developed by our award-winning chefs. Recipes are then created for all our global stations along with loading and plating guides with photographs of each stage, so that the process is fool-proof,” Robin Padgett, dnata’s divisional senior vice president for catering and retail said in a statement.
“We also take the special requirements of our airline partners into consideration, with Halal-prepared meat as well as tasty vegetarian alternatives. Special meals account for 45 per cent of total meals provided for our big airline carriers,” Padgett added.
Due to producing such vast quantities of festive meals, dnata’s catering teams work closely with airline customers to analyze consumption trends and use predictive data to optimize the loading of food and beverage for in-flight catering.
Analysis of on-board data not only reduces food waste but also fuel burn associated with carrying excess weight.
