Qatar Airways Resumes Premium Inflight Dining Experience

(16 Dec 2021)  Qatar Airways has resumed its pre-pandemic inflight dining experience on flights to and from London and Paris.

Passengers in First and Business Class will no longer be offered meals on a serving tray, instead the food service will follow the fine-dining etiquette, where the silverware and chinaware will be presented elegantly on crisp white linen complete with candle light.

Qatar Airways currently operates five daily flights to London Heathrow (LHR) and thrice daily flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) on Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft.

Qatar Airways' premium inflight dining experience. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, said, “The past year and a half has been a challenging period for the aviation industry, however we grew stronger and became more resilient as time went by. Today, we are happy to mark a new chapter that brings us a step closer to the recovery of the pandemic. Passengers will now be able to further enjoy Qatar Airways’ world-renowned in-flight services onboard our flights between Doha, London and Paris with more destinations to follow.”

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline has applied rigorous additional health and safety measures on board its flights in an effort to minimise contact between crew and passengers.

In Economy Class service, meals and cutlery were all served sealed as usual, while First and Business Class meals were served covered on a tray instead of a table layup, and the cutlery roll was offered to passengers as an alternative to individual cutlery service.

The airline also introduced single-use menu cards and sealed refreshing wipes during this time.

All social areas including the lounge onboard the aircraft were closed adhering to social distancing measures, but will now reopen for premium passengers to access.

The airline’s in-flight services will gradually return to business as usual across its entire network starting January 2022.