Would you like the chicken or the prawn?
Singapore Airport Terminal Services, or SATS, is swapping prawns for chicken on menus more regularly in order to save costs at a time when airlines are continuing to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If the prawns are too expensive we will change to chicken,” SATS president and chief executive officer Kerry Mok told local media during a webcast on the company’s fiscal third-quarter results.
SATS is the main ground handling and in-flight catering service provider at Changi Airport (SIN) in Singapore.
Mok told an analyst during the webcast Q & A that airlines sometimes “decide to reduce the protein amount just to maintain the price, or they look to substitute protein in terms of the meals.”
Despite SATS posting a $9.9 million and $22.5 million in net losses for the second quarter and first quarter of financial year 2023, the company is optimistic.
SATS said that employee numbers are now at an optimal level to meet increased travel and customer demand. Business outlook is also expected to improve as China’s borders reopen.
“Despite headwinds, our underlying business performance has shown improvements as we execute on our twin-engine growth strategy and capture meaningful business value. While cargo volumes have softened, the reopening of China borders is expected to improve volume throughput,” Mok said in a statement.
SATS served 49.1 million meals in the first nine months of fiscal year 2023, an increase of 25% from 2022.
