Berlin/Tokyo.
With a view to environmental protection and sustainability, airlines are under particular scrutiny. While they are working on low-emission fuels on a large scale, they are turning small screws on board.
Voluntarily forgoing food on board: Japan Airlines has been offering this “service” to passengers on all flights since December. Up to one day before departure, passengers can choose the “Meal Skip Option” – instead of the menu on the flight, the airline will then make a donation to a project to fight hunger in developing countries.
The airline wants to enable guests who want rest instead of food to have a trouble-free flight on the one hand (and with the donation certainly also have a clear conscience). On the other hand, it is about avoiding food waste. Because the menus are prepared before the flight. What is not eaten on board ends up in the garbage.
An approach that should pay off in the long term
The response to the measure has so far been manageable: the airline is currently saving a few menus per flight on request. Two to three out of 100 passengers would make use of the option of not having a meal. But one expects “significant” savings over time.
Japan Airlines is not alone in its approach. The US airline Delta Air Lines introduced a similar option for certain business class flights in the fall. Here, too, only a small fraction of passengers have used it so far. According to a CNN report, an average of 1,000 to 1,500 meals per month have been avoided so far.
Pre-order and tray analysis
And in this country? Some of the airlines in the Lufthansa Group (including Swiss and Austrian Airlines) have pre-order options. At Lufthansa, for example, passengers on short and medium-haul routes can pre-order fresh products online up to 36 hours before departure, according to a spokesman.
The aim is to plan requirements as precisely as possible in order to avoid food waste. According to the spokesman, the Lufthansa Group also relies on artificial intelligence. Leftovers on the returned tablets are analyzed using scales, cameras and algorithmic recognition. According to the descriptions, the dishes should be made even more precisely.
Hot meals can be pre-ordered from the holiday airline Tuifly – so they are pre-cooked as required. According to a spokesman, work is being done on board the planes and in the supply chains to reduce food waste. Where possible and safe, donate food just before the expiration date.
Fresh groceries to take away
The Lufthansa Group has another approach to recycle unused food from a flight. And earn some money with it.
The airlines are pursuing initiatives that offer passengers leftover fresh products at a reduced price on the last short-haul flights of the day, according to the spokesman for the Lufthansa Group. A good 80,000 products were sold in 2022 instead of being disposed of.
Already had good experiences
A concrete example is provided by Austrian Airlines, which belongs to the group. On European flights to Vienna, passengers can buy unused fresh groceries for EUR 3.50 shortly before landing in the Austrian capital. The airline calls this “Austrian Melangerie to go”. According to the airline, more than two tons of food were sold in this way in one year and did not end up in the garbage.
Apparently a model that should set a precedent: The introduction of such a sales offer at Lufthansa is also planned for this year, according to the spokesman for the Lufthansa Group.
Amount of waste is in the millions of tons
But: Is all this just a drop in the ocean and, in view of the climate-damaging emissions from aircraft, just a side note in the whole cosmos of environmental protection and sustainability?
To put this into context: In 2018, the airlines caused 6.1 million tons of cabin waste, the international airline association IATA estimated. At least 20 percent of this was discarded food and drink. That would be more than 1.2 million tons. (dpa)
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