The end of tray service on planes

Neil Perry has redesigned Qantas's business class meal. Picture: Jane Dempster Source: News Limited

QANTAS has ditched the tray on flights to Perth. Business class passengers on Australia's longest domestic route will now get international standard table service. And economy is changing too.

Qantas and Neil Perry unveiled their new Perth business class a-la-carte menu in Sydney yesterday. The menu, including hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame dressing will be served on all Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Perth and Brisbane-Perth flights from later this month. 

What other changes would you like to see happen on planes? Tell us below. 

Qantas Domestic CEO Lyell Strambi said the airline had decided to ditch the trays in response to customer needs. Flight attendants will now take orders and serve dinners to customers on plates just like in a restaurant, rather than a food court. 

"Passengers can choose what they want and when they want it," Mr Strambi said. 

Hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame soy dressing (left), carrot and dill soup. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

That includes being left alone to sleep. 

The airline has already announced that they intend to install lie flat beds into all mid-week business class services to Perth from next year. 

The moves shows the battle for the WA airline market is heating up. From 2000 to 2008 domestic air travel was largely fuelled by the budget airline boom. Since the global financial crisis, Qantas says that it is business class that is really booming.

Passengers lucky enough to fly business class to Perth will experience a mouth-watering Neil Perry menu that includes two small entre sized meals and five main meals plus the option of small canapés to start and cheese and desert. 

Baked vanilla custard with basil and balsamic strawberries (left), seasonal cheese of the day. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

"The new menu gives customers a more contemporary dining experience while still taping into local produce and providing enough variation from frequent fliers," Mr Perry said. 

Not cashed up enough to fly business class? Mr Strambi said there will be changes happening in economy, too. But they will be announced later this year and he's staying very tight lipped.

View the original article here

The end of tray service on planes

Neil Perry has redesigned Qantas's business class meal. Picture: Jane Dempster Source: News Limited

QANTAS has ditched the tray on flights to Perth. Business class passengers on Australia's longest domestic route will now get international standard table service. And economy is changing too.

Qantas and Neil Perry unveiled their new Perth business class a-la-carte menu in Sydney yesterday. The menu, including hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame dressing will be served on all Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Perth and Brisbane-Perth flights from later this month. 

What other changes would you like to see happen on planes? Tell us below. 

Qantas Domestic CEO Lyell Strambi said the airline had decided to ditch the trays in response to customer needs. Flight attendants will now take orders and serve dinners to customers on plates just like in a restaurant, rather than a food court. 

"Passengers can choose what they want and when they want it," Mr Strambi said. 

Hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame soy dressing (left), carrot and dill soup. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

That includes being left alone to sleep. 

The airline has already announced that they intend to install lie flat beds into all mid-week business class services to Perth from next year. 

The moves shows the battle for the WA airline market is heating up. From 2000 to 2008 domestic air travel was largely fuelled by the budget airline boom. Since the global financial crisis, Qantas says that it is business class that is really booming.

Passengers lucky enough to fly business class to Perth will experience a mouth-watering Neil Perry menu that includes two small entre sized meals and five main meals plus the option of small canapés to start and cheese and desert. 

Baked vanilla custard with basil and balsamic strawberries (left), seasonal cheese of the day. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

"The new menu gives customers a more contemporary dining experience while still taping into local produce and providing enough variation from frequent fliers," Mr Perry said. 

Not cashed up enough to fly business class? Mr Strambi said there will be changes happening in economy, too. But they will be announced later this year and he's staying very tight lipped.

View the original article here

Departing planes lounge longer in Brissie

DELAYS: Departure times at Brisbane Airport have blown out in January. Source: The Courier-Mail

A NEW runway demand management tool introduced at Brisbane Airport has made little difference to travellers with almost one in three flights arriving late and departure times getting worse in January.

New monthly data released by the Federal Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, show 30 per cent of flights arrived late - down from 30.8 per cent the previous month.

But departure times blew out, with 24.6 per cent leaving more than 15 minutes later than scheduled compared with 21.1 per cent the previous month.

The results again left Brisbane Airport among the worst in the country for on-time performance, well behind Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Cairns, Canberra and Darwin.

They have deteriorated significantly compared with a year ago when 81.8 per cent of flights departed on time, and 78 per cent of arrivals landed within 15-minutes of schedule.

The new Metron system introduced by Airservices Australia in December operates by holding aircraft on the ground longer at airports, in order to limit the amount of time they spend in holding patterns at their destination.

Although a statement from Airservices Australia said the system had already reduced the amount of time aircraft were spending in holding patterns over Brisbane, the improvement has not been reflected in the data.

The statistics further highlight the need for a speedy resolution to the current impasse between Brisbane Airport Corporation and airlines over how a new parallel runway should be funded.

The BAC is demanding airlines start paying now, seven years before the runway is operational, but the airlines have been refusing.

Yesterday, the Premier called on the Federal Government to intervene in the stoush to ensure the construction of the runway goes ahead.

Preliminary works began in September, but a BAC spokeswoman said the second stage could be delayed if funding was not secured.

View the original article here