Azul Airlines has announced that they will begin providing Brazilian cuisine in their meals on international flights. These meals will be offered to both business and economy passengers on flights that are longer than seven hours departing from Brazil. The service is already available for planes leaving Campinas and heading to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in the United States, as well as flights from Campinas to Lisbon, Portugal.
The meals, including the bread, cheese, and desserts offered as sides, are prepared with typical Brazilian ingredients. Each of these meal options is set for lunch or dinner and served hot. Four options are offered for the business class: meat, chicken, fish, and vegetarian. An example of a main course in business class is a toasted pumpkin or tomato salad with shredded meat topped with a pumpkin purée and farofa with cashew nut cream. The dessert option includes a passion fruit pie with chocolate layers.
What's on the menu?
There are typically two options that are offered for economy class per flight. An example of an economy-class main course option is a chickpea salad served with minced chicken topped with creamy canjiquinha. Canjiquinha is a traditional Brazilian dish made of pork ribs and crushed corn. Another option could be a penne pasta with a herb sauce topped with tomato concassé.
General Manager of Customer Experience of Azul Airlines, Felipe Masson, stated that the decision stems from being the airline that flies to more destinations in Brazil than any other airline.
"One of Azul's commitments is to offer the best air travel experience in the country, and we understand that on-board service is an important factor in achieving this goal. Azul is the company that flies to more destinations in Brazil, and the celebration and connection of the country are in our DNA."
Masson also states that the decision to begin offering Brazil-specific meals was a response to customer feedback on existing international flights.
"The design of the new menu was a long and thorough work, which involved several areas of the company. To get to the chosen service, we analyzed our customers' satisfaction data and held several meetings with a team of chefs to arrive at a menu that celebrated Azul's [Brazilian culture] and met our customers' expectations."
Mighty meal options
During a given month, Azul Airlines typically serves 5,200 meals in business class and over 50,000 meals in economy class. Meals through Azul Airlines generally are offered in four separate cycles. Each of these specific cycles is repeated three times throughout the year. The rotating menus account for over 72 dishes served to business class and 36 other dishes served to economy class.
These dishes are in addition to the desserts, cheeses, breads, and other snacks served throughout the flight, allowing a more diverse menu to be offered during the in-flight meal services. It also allows customers to experience a greater variety of the offered meals if they are flying international flights multiple times throughout the year.
What do you think of Azul’s decision to honor their Brazilian culture by offering specific cuisine to international flights? Do you wish more airlines would make this effort across the globe? Share your thoughts by commenting below.