This article is published in Aviation Week & Space Technology and is free to read until Dec 22, 2024. If you want to read more articles from this publication, please click the link to subscribe.
Collins Aerospace sees a growing trend of aircraft cabin self-service food and beverage stations.
Miniature galleys with self-serve complementary snacks and beverages could be a growing trend.
United Airlines introduced its in-flight “Grab-N-Go” stations last year—each stocked with a limited supply of water and light snacks on flights of at least 801 mi.
JetBlue Airways, which rolled out its self-service JetBlue Pantry snack station in 2006 on transcontinental routes, features the station on its Airbus A321neo and A220-300 fleet, according to a JetBlue Spokesperson. The pantry includes a refrigerated section for water and nonalcoholic beverages. Under a just-announced partnership with the Bucher Group, an aerospace solutions specialist, the pantry will be added to select new aircraft.
“Adding self-service areas for passengers to access food and beverages in flight is a growing trend,” says Shawn Raybell, director of business development at Collins Aerospace. “As single-leg flight duration increases, especially in the single-aisle market, additional food and beverage offerings provides a method for airlines to differentiate premium-economy branding.”
Raybell cites Collins’ M-Flex Duet product line, a snack station providing in-flight food and beverage service at an unused door area, or the in-flight ability to transform a typical cabin attendant seating area into a standing catering and social area. The product was introduced at the 2019 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.
Sebastian Tivig, a cabin specialist at Diehl Aviation, explains that the cabin equipment OEM also sees a range of design options for self-service stations. “They vary from simple dry storage to elaborately designed pieces with cooling, real glass doors and touchless water dispensers,” he says, adding that Diehl is working with Qantas on long-haul fleet economy cabin snack center installations.
Larger narrowbodies such as the Airbus A321XLR and Boeing 737 MAX 9 and 10, flying trips of four or more hours, are more likely to be retrofitted with snack stations, reports Robert Mann, principal of airline consulting firm R.W. Mann & Company. He believes most are likely to be lighted display shelving, containing shelf-stable bulk items.
“If snack stations are judged successful—based on catering and labor cost-avoidance, positive customer and flight attendant response—they may replace some existing galley space [such as] cart, oven or storage positions,” says Mann. “I do not expect them to replace floor area devoted to seating.”
Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, an airline industry market research organization, sees more opportunities for snack stations on long-haul widebodies in business class and possibly premium economy. “Where I do not see them widely used is on narrowbodies due to cabin space constraints,” he says.
The obvious question, then, is whether snack stations will become standard cabin equipment.
“I think each airline is attempting to include this only where they are not impacting their location of passenger accommodations in any significant way,” says Clark Johns, engagement manager at Alton Aviation Consultancy. “While these are a nice perk for customers, they have no revenue generation, so the airlines will still prioritize passenger seating first.”
Related Content
