New onboard menus have been introduced on all Virgin Australia flights to give customers more choice and better value. The menus include a fresh new Business Class menu focused on quality and simplicity and a buy onboard menu of popular snacks and drinks for Economy guests.
Virgin Australia Group CEO and Managing Director Jayne Hrdlicka said that many months had been spent developing the new onboard experience following extensive customer research.
“Today we’ve delivered an exceptional Business Class product and more choice and value for Economy guests that we know they’re going to love,” said Hrdlicka.
“Our new Business Class menu and service design is high quality, relaxed, uncomplicated and exactly what our guests and team members have told us they want. I’m really proud of what we’ve delivered.”
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Business Class menu
The Business Class menu features simple, modern, fresh and contemporary dishes, made using locally sourced Australian produce.
Dishes include a range of hot meals, healthy salads and Australian classics, served on tableware including crockery, glassware and cutlery, providing a quality in-flight experience and further reducing single-use packaging as part of the airline’s continued commitment to sustainability.
Customers will have two menu choices to select from on every flight, with the meal appropriate to the time of day and length of the flight.
The new menu will rotate on a bi-monthly basis and comes with all-inclusive premium Australian wine and beer, plus soft beverages and spirits.
The enhanced Business class experience also triggered a training refresh for the airline’s cabin crew, with new hospitality standards that focus on customer engagement allowing more time in the cabin with guests.
Economy buy onboard menu
Following significant time spent with consumers and Virgin Australia team members, the airline has found that travellers would prefer to choose their own food and beverage in a buy onboard model on domestic flights, instead of receiving a predetermined snack.
The new Economy buy onboard menu is designed to give travellers greater value, taking the previously included snack out of the ticket price.
Initially, the menu will feature the most popular snack and beverage items, including cheese and crackers and Australian wine, before a greater range of menu items are introduced later in the year when travel demand is expected to resume to near pre-COVID levels.
As part of the Economy experience, Virgin Australia will continue to serve complimentary tea, coffee and water on every flight.
Greater value airfares to stay
Following a reduction in the price of Business Class fares of up to 20 percent last November in comparison with pre-COVID-19 prices, Virgin Australia will also undertake a further review of its Business and Economy Class fare brands.
Virgin says the new fare brands “will deliver better value for travellers, provide more flexibility and choice when compared to travelling prior to COVID-19.”
The overhaul will make Business Class seats more accessible, Virgin said.
Virgin Australia General Manager Product and Customer, Sarah Adam said the new Business Class menu had been designed with altitude in mind.
“It’s well known that when you’re high above the clouds you lose some sense of taste and smell so this was a really important factor in designing the new menu so our food not only looks great but tastes great in the air,” said Adam.
“We’ve really dialled-up the flavours in the food with the right seasoning and textures to provide a very competitive Business Class experience for domestic travel in Australia.”