Catering at altitude: air catering. Haute cuisine from the in-flight catering department of Roshchino Airport In-flight catering
Alex Cheban, travel blogger: A delicious lunch above the clouds - what could be better? 35% of passengers choose fish, 45% choose meat, and only 18% believe that it is not necessary to eat on a plane, you just need to fly on it. Well... they will most likely miss this report. I invite everyone else to the UTair airline's in-flight catering factory in Surgut.
Secret No. 1. UTair has its own baked goods for in-flight catering kits.
The small room has the positive smell of fresh French cinnamon rolls.
Each bun should weigh 60g.
On the ground floor there are procurement workshops: meat, fish and vegetables, a defrosting chamber and a freezer. In the cold workshop, cucumbers and olives are packaged and salads are cut.
Let's move on to the hot shop...
Sautéing for roasting beef.
Secret No. 2. Even the in-flight catering has a chef! He prepares the in-flight food ration for the airline as a whole and coordinates production. Knows the energy value of dishes, flavor combinations and food composition rules.
Chef Egor Korolev oversees the process.
And if the factory suddenly runs out of animal meat, then children and crews are used (smiles).
Secret No. 3. The cost of one serving of in-flight meals (economy class) is on average 150 rubles.
Preparing trays containing cutlery, salad, dessert, and UTair branded chocolate.
Secret No. 4. The shelf life of in-flight meals is three hours. That is, if the flight is delayed, then it is necessary to completely redo and reload the food into the boxes. Meals on the return segment of a turnaround flight are a new set that is loaded before departure at the intermediate airport.
Packaging of finished products for loading on board.
Secret No. 5: Inflight meals are distributed strictly according to the number of passengers on the flight, plus one spare set per 50 passengers (according to industry standard). So, most likely, there will be no supplements, even if the cabin is half empty. An additional portion is issued in case of unexpected transportation/distribution defects on board.
Secret No. 6. Absolutely all products, main dishes and salads are prepared for a specific flight; the full cycle of preparation and serving of one flight takes three hours. The in-flight catering department operates around the clock and the start time of cooking is coordinated with the airport and is clearly linked to the actual expected departure time.
These carts with food are supplied from the second floor to a specially equipped vehicle, which supplies food on board.
Secret No. 7. The menu is unified for each airline and is always prepared identically according to certain recipes at all in-flight catering factories, even if some point does not have its own factory.
For example, you were fed stale fish on a flight from Irkutsk to Moscow, you send a complaint to UTair and the airline conducts an investigation with the service provider in Irkutsk, conducts an audit of the enterprise, all the way to changing the supplier! After visiting the factory itself, we were able to taste the in-flight food. Everything was divided by service class.
Secret No. 8. The crew has a separate menu! I always thought that the crew eats the same as business class, but it turns out not. A special diet has been developed for the crew, which takes into account the energy requirement of 3500 kcal/day. Legumes, plums and prunes are excluded. The crew consists of pilots and flight attendants; there are no differences in diet.
Economy Superior.
Business Class.
Secret No. 9. There is cream soup in business class! And for breakfast, porridge, even in a liquid consistency. They are served on board the aircraft in a “geyser”, and directly to the passenger in a recessed cup.
A "deep cup" is simply a deep dish. In general, it is very interesting to listen to professionals and catch such words.
Secret No. 10. Exotics are available on board, but only by special order. For example, a venison menu can be prepared specifically for a charter flight or business aviation. In such cases, the menu undergoes additional approval and preparation may take more than three hours.
In my opinion, UTair food is really tasty and plentiful, especially on short flights, and on the Kyiv-Moscow flight it’s the best best menu among all line operators.
My meal on the morning flight Surgut-Kyiv on the way home. Everything is absolutely identical visually and just as tasty as in the presentation. Well, maybe the pasta is a little different, but that doesn’t matter.
A delicious lunch above the clouds - what could be better?! Nothing! This is exactly what 35% of travelers think, who cannot imagine flying without tasty fish, they are joined by another 45% who also will not refuse delicious beef with tomato sauté... and only the remaining 18% are sure that it is not at all necessary to eat on a plane; you just need to fly. Well... they will most likely miss this report. And I invite everyone else to the UTair airline in-flight catering factory in Surgut! Did you know that everything needs to be prepared anew if the flight is delayed by 3 hours?! And that pilots do not eat food from business or economy, but there is a special diet for them?! How to feed passengers on 300 flights a day departing from 110 cities route network airlines?!
And the main thing is that even the in-flight catering has its own chef - the charismatic Egor in unique branded plaid pants!
We are located in Surgut, in the ZapSib-Catering company - a branch of UTair Airlines OJSC. The workshop is designed for 8 thousand portions per day and serves flights of UTair and other airlines that fly from Surgut.
The UTair airline has its own factories in Surgut, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, and the main office responsible for catering for the entire airline is located in Surgut.
On the ground floor there are procurement workshops: meat, fish and vegetables, a defrosting chamber and a freezer.
Secret No. 1. All the baked goods for the in-flight catering kits are here!
In a small room there is an incredibly positive smell of fresh French cinnamon rolls:
Each bun should weigh 60g. Shall we check?
Very sharp eye! On the first try :)
In the cold workshop, cucumbers and olives are packaged and salads are cut:
Let's move on to the hot shop...
Sauteing for beef frying:
Secret No. 2. Even the in-flight catering has a chef! And this is not a nominal position at all. He prepares the in-flight catering ration for the airline as a whole and coordinates production both from a technological and supply point of view. He is the one who knows the energy value of dishes, flavor combinations and rules for arranging food nutrients. Obviously, the crew’s diet should not include peas, but besides this there are a lot of subtleties and nuances that are his professional secrets.
Yegor Korolev is vigilantly watching over the process.
And if the factory suddenly runs out of animal meat, then children and crews are used :)
Secret No. 3. The cost of 1 serving of in-flight meals (economy class) is on average 150 rubles.
Preparing trays containing cutlery, salad, dessert, branded chocolate with one of aircraft airlines:
Secret No. 4. The shelf life of in-flight meals is 3 hours. Those. If the flight is delayed, then it is necessary to completely redo and reload the in-flight catering. Meals on the return segment of a turnaround flight are a new set that is loaded before departure at the intermediate airport.
And packaging of finished products for loading on board:
Secret No. 5. In-flight meals are distributed strictly according to the number of passengers on the flight, plus 1 spare meal per 50 passengers (as per industry standard). So, most likely, there will be no supplements, even if the cabin is half empty. An additional portion is issued in case of unexpected transportation/distribution defects on board.
Formation of products.
Next, all carts go down to the first floor, where they are checked by the aviation security service, the carts are sealed and can be transported to the aircraft.
A separate trolley contains dishes for business class:
Secret No. 6. Absolutely all products, hot dishes and salads are prepared for a specific flight; the time for a full cycle of preparation and serving for one flight is 3 hours. The in-flight catering department operates around the clock and the start time of cooking is coordinated with the airport and is clearly linked to the actual expected departure time.
These food carts are supplied from the second floor to a specially equipped vehicle, which supplies food on board:
Secret No. 7. The menu is unified for each airline and is always prepared identically according to certain recipes at all in-flight catering factories, even if some point does not have its own factory.
For example, you were fed stale fish on a flight from Irkutsk to Moscow, you send a complaint to UTair and the airline conducts an investigation with the service provider in Irkutsk, conducts an audit of the enterprise, all the way to changing the supplier!
After visiting the factory itself, we were able to taste the in-flight food.
Everything was divided by service class.
Economy class - casseroles with hot options (sausages, fish, beef, vegetables) + salad tray + drinks included in economy:
Secret No. 8. The crew has a separate menu!
I always thought that the crew eats the same as business class, but it turns out not. A special diet has been developed for the crew, which takes into account the energy requirement of 3500 kcal/day. Legumes, plums and prunes are excluded. The crew consists of pilots and flight attendants; there are no differences in diet.
Crew meals:
Economy Superior:
Well, business class:
Secret No. 9. There is cream soup in business class! And for breakfast, porridge, even in a liquid consistency. They are served on board the aircraft in a “geyser”, and directly to the passenger - in a deep cup!
A "deep cup" is simply a deep dish in professional terminology. In general, it is very interesting to listen to professionals and catch such words.
Secret No. 10. Exotics are available on board, but only by special order. For example, a venison menu can be prepared specifically for a particular charter flight or business aviation. In such cases, the menu undergoes additional approval and preparation can take significantly more than 3 hours.
In my opinion, UTair food is really tasty and plentiful, especially on short flights, and on the Kyiv-Moscow flight it is the best menu among all line operators:
Secret No. 10+1. On board and at the tasting - absolutely the same!
On social networks, while I was posting live pictures from the tasting, in addition to the logical stream of complaints about the bias of the report, there were reviews that the food was beautiful in the pictures, but on real flights it was disgusting. As it turned out, this is not so and often it is the subjective perception of taste that works, and even, perhaps, a change in the individual sensitivity of taste buds at a high level!
And a simple comparison... Kasalettes at the tasting during the press tour, pay attention to the sausages:
...and meals on the morning flight Surgut-Kyiv on the way home. Everything is absolutely identical visually and just as tasty as in the presentation.
Well, maybe the pasta is a little different, but that doesn’t matter.
Resources where thematic pictures on in-flight catering are posted.
Who eats on planes? In response to this question, I would always raise my hand. An hour's travel time for a meal is reduced to just a few minutes. I come up with interesting sandwiches from cold appetizers. I also compete with myself for the neatest container, which after eating becomes a warehouse for packaging. I almost always give dessert to Maksiche, who meets me. He has a sweet tooth, unlike me.
I ate and ate and never thought about how this food was prepared and got on board. UTair invited me to its historical homeland, Surgut, where food is prepared for all flights departing from this airport in a 350-meter in-flight catering workshop. In general, with its food among Russian airlines feeds only UTair and Aeroflot. The rest order catering at the airport, packaging it in their own boxes, as the Siberian S7 does.
In Surgut, UTair cooks not only for airplane passengers, but also for cafes at the airport and for its hotel.
The main person in UTair's in-flight catering is Nikolai Vasilievich. Seryozha wrote very well about him, we flew together with him.
« Tens of millions of passengers fed per year. More than a thousand people at four airports. And two and a half billion in revenue. He manages all this from his office here in Surgut. The scale captivates him and inspires me with it. This is how he is - Nikolai Vasilyevich.He suddenly exclaims his favorite: “The passenger is always right!”
And again he begins with love about the children. How difficult it is to transport them. Much more difficult than Hajj pilgrims. How to prepare flight attendants. He disappears somewhere and returns with a coloring book and pencils. Gives them to my colleague. After all, she has a child.
He is noisy and kind. Knows everyone by name and patronymic, which he pronounces with love. Here, among all the combi ovens and stoves, there is a completely different atmosphere than in the kitchens of chain restaurants in Moscow. It's like in a movie. And it smells like buns.”
Where the food begins, the sterile zone begins. We take off our outerwear and pack ourselves into robes with an “entrance” on the back, shoe covers and hats. The bristly Seryozha was given a mask.
The rug is in a recess, so don’t trip.
I compared these measures to changing clothes in the dirty area at the Smolensk nuclear power plant, where we left all our clothes except underwear in the lockers and dressed up in thick snow-white cotton overalls and helmets. good Honeymoon we had!
But let's return to Surgut. On the ground floor of the workshop there is a food warehouse. They are prepared for cooking: washed, cut, peeled.
There are refrigeration units and defrosting chambers.
Dirty dishes also arrive here in carts. The carts are first washed in a separate chamber with the product, and then more thoroughly cleaned in order to be filled with new portions.
It seemed strange to me that meat and fish were butchered in the same room.
But when I entered it, it smelled of meat. It was just cut. If they handle the meat, they'll take on the fish.
The meat and fish workshop has refrigerators, cutting tables and a sink. The walls are tiled everywhere; the same requirements apply to operating rooms.
The vegetable shop smells fresh. Just peeled carrots!
Kitchen worker Patimat peels the eyes from potatoes. He says there are many of them in this batch. More than a hundred kilograms of potatoes pass through her hands per shift.
Of course, she doesn't clean hundreds of kilos by hand. This is what the machine does. Two buckets of root vegetables are loaded into it, closed and the drum is turned on. The peel rubs against the sandy interior of the centrifuge. During cleaning, vegetables are watered. At home, I also peel potatoes under running water. The vertical photo shows dirty water draining from the machine.
The unit itself stands in a kind of bath.
We go up to the second floor. In the rooms on the right, food is prepared, sweets and bread are baked. And on the left they are packaged into carts, lunch boxes and carts.
A cassette is an aluminum box for hot food. Lunch boxes serve snacks, cups and partings on board. The cart is used by flight attendants to carry food around the plane.
Up to 1,000 buns are baked per shift, replacing white bread. The machine mixes the dough for them. And the confectionery products are prepared entirely by hand.
They spend 18 minutes in the oven, and after that they immediately go to the packers.
Meet the chef and his crazy pants!
I’m used to the fact that on an airplane they always serve two meals: meat and fish; I was very surprised when they also offered me sausages to choose from. It is known that altitude greatly distorts tastes. For example, on earth I don’t even remember the existence tomato juice when, like on an airplane, I begin to feel its taste in my mouth as soon as the car takes off from the ground. Of course I took the sausages. And tomato juice.
Let's move on to packaging. Cassalettes are assembled in the hot food department, snacks - in the cold department. The vegetables have just arrived on the second floor via a special food elevator.
Two hours before departure, when it is already almost exactly known how many people will board the plane, they begin to collect lunch boxes and pack them in carts, and hot food in containers.
Everything is done so quickly that food doesn’t sit idle. If the plane is delayed for a long time, this is usually known in advance, so they are collected by the actual departure time. And if the flight is delayed for half an hour, then the packaged food simply sits in a special refrigerator and waits to be boarded.
The cost of a meal set per economy class passenger is 130 rubles.
A set of sauces, dishes and rations for business class. UTair also has an improved economy seat, the price is somewhere between business and economy, in fact: economy seats, but business services.
Boeing trolleys.
Container for hot dishes.
The cart is sealed and the number of servings is signed.
Meals are delivered for the flight based on actual load. If someone is late, the extra portions are taken off board. There is another set of food for 50 passengers. If there are 150 people flying, there should be 153 meals on board.
Loaders carry containers and carts to the elevator. But that's not all, the food journey continues.
Everything is strict at the airport. The security service does not ignore food either.
In this container, the food will travel through the airport to the plane. It will be heated on board and served to each passenger.
This is such manual labor!
After the tour, we treated ourselves to all the possible dishes that the kitchen prepares. Muksun, venison, fruit. Some with wine, some with cognac.
A bag similar to khinkali is a lemon. It is pressed onto the fish without removing it from the fabric so that it does not slip in your hands and the bones do not fall into the plate. Life hack for home! I've already wrapped it up.
Finally, I’ll tell you a few interesting facts.
In the canteen of the Surgut airport, it is impossible for employees to simply eat for a hundred rubles; with this money you can overeat!
Pasta - 4 rubles, mashed potatoes - 6 rubles, cupcake - 8 rubles.
The crew is not allowed to eat foods that cause stomach turmoil before or during the flight. Here is one of the diets provided to flight attendants and pilots.
UTair also opened additional flights from Ingushetia to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. They pass at night so that passengers can eat. During the month of Ramadan, devout Muslims must fast from the onset of morning prayer (prayer at dawn) until the onset of evening prayer (at sunset).
The Russian in-flight catering market today includes both specialized workshops at airports, catering companies and some metropolitan restaurants. Despite the mature market, there are still problems related to safety standards, as well as the quality and taste of the food supplied.
Airplanes first
Large Russian operators specializing in in-flight catering are concentrated in two capitals - St. Petersburg and Moscow. The latter, according to the Association of Manufacturers of Services for Passengers in Transport, accounts for more than 80% of the market. In general, the domestic market is divided (in descending order of shares) by enterprises at the airports Domodedovo (Moscow), Sheremetyevo (Moscow), Vnukovo (Moscow), Pulkovo (St. Petersburg), Koltsovo (Ekaterinburg) ), “Tolmachevo” (Novosibirsk), “Kurumoch” (Samara). In the remaining 50 international airports of our country, from 500 to 3 thousand rations are produced daily, depending on the season.
Among the operators, the leader of the Russian market is the Domodedovo Air Service factory established in the 80s (45-60 thousand rations per day), followed by the AeroMar company (15-47), then the in-flight catering workshop "Restaurant at the Vnukovo International Airport" "(15-25), "Pulkovo" (8-14) and "Aerofood" (3-5).
Most modern domestic food suppliers organized their business according to Western models or with the participation of foreign firms. For example, the Vnukovo workshop was created with the participation of the German company Eurest.
The founders of the AeroMar company were the Russian Aeroflot and the British corporation Marriott Inflight Services Ltd - currently the Western shareholder is LSG Sky Chefs (Germany). It should be noted that LSG Sky Chefs is the largest player on international market in-flight catering services, which, according to experts, owns more than 30% of the market. The company is very active in the Russian market (it is part of the shareholders of the in-flight catering shops at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, Krasnoyarsk's Yemelyanovo, and Adler's Sochi).
The company is also set to enter the CIS. A special niche is occupied by enterprises providing premium in-flight catering. This segment is insignificant in volume and is 90% concentrated in the Moscow air hub. First of all, the companies “Provider-Service” and Fly Fusion operate here (the brand is being developed by “Uley-Catering”), as well as the restaurants “Cafe Pushkin”, Café des Artist, “Shinok”, “Bochka”, “Capri”, “ Gallery", "Nedalny Vostok", "Seiji", etc. “The appearance of Fly Fusion air catering in 2007 was natural, because at that stage there was simply no operator that would provide premium class food on board around the clock and promptly in accordance with all the latest technologies, sanitary standards and safety rules,” said Anna Poverennova, brand manager of Fly Fusion. The St. Petersburg restaurant holding Ginza Project also plans to launch in-flight catering for private and business aviation flights.
Who is the head in this house?
For many years, the procedure for service, requirements for food and utensils in Russia were determined by instruction 11/7 of 1979. Director of Strategic Communications at Koltsovo Airport, Yulia Fedotova, believes that since then the requirements for the safety and taste of in-flight food have not changed fundamentally. The changes affected mainly the range of products; it also became possible to use modern culinary processing methods and offer dishes from various cuisines.
However, today the activities of a catering company must comply not so much with the federal document called “ General rules air transport passengers, baggage, cargo and requirements for servicing passengers, shippers, consignees”, as well as the requirements of the customer airline. “All issues related to the organization of in-flight catering for passengers are entirely within the competence of the carrier. Each airline sets own requirements to the quality of in-flight food rations,” says CEO Association of Transport Service Manufacturers. This can be explained by the fact that air passenger transportation from mass and generally available has turned into an element of luxury: today no more than 3% of the population of the Russian Federation use air transport services.
However, experts believe that over the past five years the quality of in-flight meals offered by most Russian airlines has declined. “Of course, airlines are optimizing budgets for in-flight catering in order to reduce costs,” confirms Yulia Fedotova. - For example, over the past two years base airline Koltsovo Airport has reduced food costs by 50%. And the main difficulty of operating a company specializing in air catering is maintaining high quality and safety of in-flight catering with reduced airline budgets.” It should be noted that domestic operators were forced to significantly improve their product by the arrival of such international customers as British Airways and Emirates.
“Daily control is carried out on the basis of the “Production Control Program” developed and approved by Rospotrebnadzor (RPN). Routine monitoring of sanitary conditions and food safety is carried out by RPN, and product testing for compliance with GOST requirements is carried out by a sanitary-technological food laboratory,” Yulia Fedotova talks about the standard procedure. “The last violation, identified two years ago, was non-compliance with the quality standards of tap water used for processing raw materials.”
According to the head of the Ground Services Department of VIM-Avia, Rayane Mursekaeva, quality control of the service is carried out comprehensively, and not only the RPN. At the airport, constant control is carried out by employees of the in-flight catering department - from the moment the ration is completed in the in-flight catering department and ending with loading into the elevator that delivers the products on board.
It must be said that the on-load tap-changer does not have permissive or prohibitive functions. Today, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, responsibility for food safety lies with the air passenger carrier, which is obliged to develop requirements for the quality of services of suppliers and monitor their implementation. As Alexander Avdeev notes, the vast majority of Russian air passenger carriers have withdrawn themselves from fulfilling these responsibilities.
How much does it weigh in grams?
In-flight meals are prepared on a just-in-time basis. Operational work begins with three-day planning, adjustments are made within a day. Taking into account the number of passengers, food is first ordered, then, 10 hours before departure, rations begin to be assembled, 8 hours before hot meals are prepared, 6 hours before cold snacks, 5 hours before departure, portions are filled, 3 hours before food is placed in the refrigerator compartment , 2 hours before departure - food is delivered on board.
In the summer, the airport operates more intensively, the number of flights increases, it becomes necessary to take a large supply of water and drinks on board, so logistics become more complicated.
One of the basic principles underlying in-flight catering is: “Standard, standard and once again standard!” This applies not only to the contents of the diet, but also to the design of the dishes. The passenger sees not only his “plate”, but also the neighbor’s, so the portions should be the same. This is also important because in this business the price cannot be calculated every day. The need for calibrated raw materials makes it difficult for a catering company to select suppliers. For example, in Russia there are no calibrated apples, but you can get the same ones from abroad. Buns and desserts should also be the same diameter and height. Having not found an enterprise in Russia that met this requirement, Domodedovo Air Service began to develop its own confectionery line.
In the West, there is a whole industry of suppliers specializing in supplying products to catering companies. In Russia, calibrated products are still provided by an extremely limited number of suppliers, so preference is often given to foreign partners.
Snack on the fly
The choice of food depends on many factors - the direction of the flight, the specifics of passenger flows, the aircraft used, or simply the person who is doing it. A standard set must contain at least three options: poultry, meat and fish. And most companies adhere to this rule.
After the airline determines the basic food parameters (budget, assortment, volume, food cycle), the catering operator begins to develop the menu - a process that takes from two weeks to several months. An individual assortment is developed for each company, including not only standard diets, but also special ones (medical, vegetarian, religious, children's). If an airline has its own chef, the in-flight catering department receives specific recipes. At the final stage of menu formation, special specifications are prepared with photographs of dishes, recipes and the cost of meal kits.
Catering companies regularly hold menu presentations (usually on the eve of summer and winter navigation). In accordance with this everything major airlines review in-flight food rations twice a year. For example, Aeroflot updated its menu at the end of March 2010. The business class set includes items such as swordfish and cold-smoked tuna, raw and cooked-smoked turkey, Bressola beef and mini sandwiches on premium bread. Passengers will also be able to taste medallions of beef marinated in Watchchester sauce, veal steak with Calvados sauce, beef Bourguignon with new potatoes, banana mousse and vanilla ice cream with Mango sauce. In addition, a wine list appeared in business class, and flight attendants began to master the art of sommelier. “One of the criteria when choosing wines was versatility: they are designed for a wide consumer and can be combined with a varied menu. The taste, color and aroma had to be pleasant and understandable to our passengers. Observations show that our customers give preference to red Chilean and white French wines,” says Victoria Molotkova, deputy head of Aeroflot’s product development department.
The food provided to first and business class passengers is not only distinguished by a richer assortment of dishes. In first class, the service is restaurant-style: first a snack is served, then a main course and then dessert. In other classes, lunch is served immediately in a special container. The table setting also differs: in first class cabins, porcelain, crystal, and cupronickel silver cutlery are used, while in economy and business class, as a rule, plastic tableware is used. “The level, complexity of the dishes and the skill of preparation are important regardless of the class, but if a passenger buys a business class ticket, then he expects, of course, a higher level,” comments Rayana Mursekaeva, head of the Ground Services Department at VIM-Avia.
A few words should be said about the diet for important people. VIP meals, as a rule, are prepared not on an assembly line, but under the guidance of a chef. On special occasions, food for a high-ranking person is prepared by his personal chef, and the company’s employees help him. This practice is sometimes used when serving delegations from countries whose cuisine is exotic. “The specificity of business aviation is that people using its services have the opportunity to order any food from anywhere in the world. For a business aviation passenger, food on board is not just a banal satisfaction of hunger; even at an altitude of 10 thousand meters, he wants to eat exactly what he likes, and in best quality and truly gastronomic performance. And even despite the fact that in a business jet there is no kitchen area or only takes up two square meters,” says Anna Poverennova.
As a rule, the cost of meals is 4-6% of the ticket price - from 6 to 37 $ depending on the content of the diet, class of service and flight duration. “The cost of one “meal set” for an airline is determined by the cost of food products declared by the in-flight catering departments. For example, the cost of one tea bag at regional airports can be 2-3 times higher than the cost at Domodedovo airport,” notes Rayana Mursekaeva.
Diet budgets
The trend in the global in-flight catering services market is the gradual disappearance of small independent operators. In addition, the desire of some airlines to save as much as possible is forcing all players to reconsider their attitude towards food on board. Thus, Low Cost airlines, freeing passengers from additional services, they also refused to provide food (if you wish, you can buy juice or a bag of chips). Naturally, this is reflected in the ticket price - it is very low.
“The market for in-flight catering services is stagnating. Leading foreign airlines for economy class passengers have excluded meals from the cost of air passenger transportation services, offering them for an additional fee. There are only two in Russia so far low cost airlines“Avianova and Sky Express do not include in-flight meals in the flight fare; other airlines, with rare exceptions, reduce in-flight meal rations,” says Alexander Avdeev, General Director of the Association of Manufacturers of Services for Passengers in Transport.
However, the quality of food on board still remains one of the key criteria for passengers to evaluate the airline's service. It is clear that not every Russian airport meets international standards for air catering, but the capital’s operators set the tone for the regions, gradually bringing their work to the proper level.
Expert opinions
Alexander Avdeev, General Director of the Association of Producers of Services for Passengers in Transport
Today, 28 Western airlines operate flights through international airports Russian Federation- and only in four terminals do they take on-board meals on an ongoing basis: in Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Pulkovo and Krasnoyarsk. The reason is that other suppliers do not undergo independent audits by foreign airlines regarding the safety of in-flight catering services. Since 1995, foreign airlines have required, in addition to good manufacturing practices, the implementation of the HACCP methodology, which is aimed at preventing the occurrence of conditions during production that lead to loss of safety of in-flight catering.
Our suppliers today mainly focus only on ensuring the requirements of proper industrial hygiene and producing products in accordance with sanitary standards and regulations. There is a clear problem of non-compliance with accepted international standards, as well as extremely low production and corporate culture. Thus, today, ensuring the safety of products and services at the level of generally accepted international requirements is one of the most difficult aspects of the work of a catering operator.
Anna Poverennova, brand manager of Fly Fusion
Food safety cannot be ensured in enterprises organized on a “pre-cooking” principle, which primarily includes stationary restaurants. In them most of premises are allocated for trade in order to cover high rental rates and extract maximum income per square meter of rented space. Workshops for preparing in-flight meals, even in the most famous of them, are located in atypical premises, since providing in-flight meals is an additional, not the main service for any stationary restaurant. Because of this, the storage conditions for returnable containers, equipment, detergents and disinfectants, as well as the requirements for the conditions for collecting industrial waste and garbage are often not met, and there is no opportunity for staff to maintain personal hygiene. Pursuing the goal of cost optimization, restaurants offer business aviation passengers to choose absolutely any dish from their menu.
As a result, the sale of dishes prohibited in the diet of air passengers and crew members, for example, dishes with sauces and dressings, seafood, medicinal mineral water and dressed salads. Production control programs for in-flight catering companies must be followed first! Fly Fusion has specially developed and implemented an internal control system to ensure the safety and quality of food for business aviation.
The in-flight catering shop was founded in 1995 and is the pride of Kapitan LLC.
More than 50 airlines, including foreign ones, use the services of the in-flight catering department of Captain LLC. The largest consumers of the company's services are S7 airlines, UTAir, Ural Airlines", "Nordwindairlines", "Transaero", "Yakutia Airlines", etc.
For airlines to create food rations different classes service offers a wide range of dishes and goods. When compiling the menu, any wishes of air carriers are taken into account, based on the passenger service standards adopted by the airline. In accordance with the Carrier’s needs, a presentation of the assortment of dishes and products is carried out at the in-flight catering department, during which the Carrier’s representatives formulate all types of food rations, draw up “Ration Menu Specifications” with photographs of the dishes, and specify the order of serving and the type of utensils used.
In order to meet consumer demand for certain types of special food, specialists from the in-flight catering department have developed standard rations for all air carriers, including dishes national cuisines, dietary dishes, vegetarian food, baby food:
BBML – infant
ORML-eastern
SFML- seafood
MOML - Muslim
VGML- vegetarian
FRML - fruity
CHML - children's
We also provide services to VIP flights, Heads and Governments of various countries. The possibility of an individual approach to each client is provided.
Every six months, the in-flight catering workshop of Kapitan LLC updates its range of products for airlines. The updates correspond to the transition from spring-summer to autumn-winter.
In 2008, the in-flight catering workshop of Captain LLC received a registration certificate from the authorized organization NQA Global Assurance Limited for compliance with the requirements of the ISO 22000-2007 standard and the HACCP system.
POLITICS IN THE AREA SAFETY OF FOOD PRODUCTS In September 2008 JSC "Captain" received a registration certificate from the authorized organization NQA Global Assurance Limited (Great Britain) for compliance with the requirements of the ISO 22000:2007 standard and the HACCP system (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points - risk analysis and critical control points (CCP)), then successfully passed supervisory inspections twice audits. This year, 2011, the company is preparing for a recertification audit. Since that time, the food safety management system (FSMS) has determined the goals, principles and directions of development of the enterprise in the process of producing high-quality products and providing services to provide in-flight catering. Due to the implementation of the FSMS, high performance was achieved. This includes gaining sustainable consumer trust, creating conditions that ensure the conscious involvement of enterprise employees in the safety management process, constantly improving the professional level and realizing the capabilities of each employee, improving the technical level of production and implementation advanced technologies Our main goals:
To achieve the set goals, the following tasks must be solved:
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Afterwards, it underwent surveillance audits twice and, based on the results of a recertification audit in 2011, the certificate was extended for another 3 years. Thanks to this, airlines that place high demands on the quality and safety of in-flight catering cooperate with Kapitan LLC, showing high trust. In-flight meals are prepared according to the “Just-In-Time” principle. The supply of food raw materials and other goods to the in-flight catering workshop is carried out from the trade and warehouse complex of Captain LLC.
Responsibility for the acceptance of products in terms of quality and quantity rests with the food product specialist.
The distribution of products among warehouses and refrigeration chambers is carried out in accordance with the accepted classification by type of product, their storage mode and sanitary and hygienic requirements:
- dry (flour, sugar, cereals, pasta, spices, industrial sauces, etc.) – dry warehouse temperature +22 - +24 ° C (FGU “Novosibirsk NTsSM test report No. 3501 dated 07/01/08), storage on racks and shelves;
- Frozen meat, fish, poultry - freezer with a temperature not exceeding -18°C, storage on racks and shelves;
- frozen vegetables - freezer with a temperature not exceeding -18°C, storage on racks and shelves;
- milk and fat - refrigeration chamber with a temperature not higher than +6°C, storage on racks and shelves;
- refreshments and alcoholic drinks, grocery products – dry warehouse temperature +22 - +24°C (FGU “Novosibirsk NTsSM test protocol No. 3501 dated 07/01/08), storage on racks and stock shelves;
- juices and beer - refrigerated compartment with a temperature not exceeding +6°C, stored on racks and stockpiles;
- meat and fish gastronomy – refrigeration chamber with a temperature from +0 to +3°C, storage on racks and stock shelves;
- vegetables and fruits (fresh and canned) – refrigerated compartment with a temperature not exceeding +6°C, stored on racks and shelves.
All production workshops are equipped with modern technological equipment.
The food preparation process is carried out in accordance with production
plan.
The salad shop prepares various fruit and vegetable snacks. Ready-made dishes are stored in baskets marked “Salad Shop”; a label is issued indicating the flight number and the name of the dish. The baskets are transferred to the production refrigerator of the “Completing Shop” at a temperature of +2/+6°C.
In cold – cold appetizers from meat, fish gastronomy, cheeses, etc. are portioned. Ready-made dishes are stored in baskets marked “Cold Shop”, a label is issued indicating the flight number and the name of the dish. The baskets are transferred to the production refrigerator of the “Completing Shop” at a temperature of +2/+6°C.
In the cutting area, semi-finished products from meat, fish, and poultry are prepared.
Which subsequently enter the hot shop, where they are subjected to heat treatment.
After cooking, hot dishes, as well as side dishes, go through a blast cooling stage, which helps ensure product safety and quality, in accordance with ISO-22000 requirements.
In the casserole serving area, chilled products are portioned. The finished cassettes are stored in special aircraft equipment, onto which an accompanying label is attached, which indicates the flight number, flight departure time, information about the contents (hot food code and quantity by class of service), date and time of assembly (flight), expiration date. Aircraft equipment with enclosed chilled cassettes is transferred to the “Dispatch refrigerator” at a temperature of +0/+4°C, where it is stored until the start of flight assembly and transportation to the aircraft.
The ration assembly shop forms ready-made sets of cold appetizers, bakery and confectionery products.
At the end of serving, lunch boxes and trays with food are placed in removable aircraft equipment corresponding to the aircraft type (carts, semi-carts, reusable or disposable containers). Filled removable aircraft equipment with open doors to ensure circulation of cold air and more efficient cooling is placed in the “Dispatch refrigerator” with a temperature of +0/+4°C and stored there until the start of inspection and loading of food into special vehicles for delivery to the aircraft.
The in-flight catering department of Captain LLC does not stand still, expanding the range of dishes offered, mastering modern technologies, and improving the skills of its specialists.
Particular attention in the Inflight Catering Shop is paid to ensuring aviation security from acts of unlawful interference. Inspection of in-flight catering and buffet and kitchen equipment is carried out at the inspection point of the In-flight Catering Shop by inspectors of the aviation security service of the Tolmachevo airport with the participation of an employee of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia at the Tolmachevo airport.