Market Trends of China Inflight Catering Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the China Inflight Catering Market according to our research experts:
Full Service Carriers are Expected to Show Remarkable Growth During the Forecast Period
Currently, in the Chinese inflight catering market, full-service carriers occupy the highest market share in the flight service type segment. Increasing investment in the aviation sector and rising spending from airlines for enhancing passengers' inflight experience drive segment growth. Nowadays, some airlines, like Turkish and Etihad, have started providing personalized chefs to their premium-class passengers. Airlines earlier used to procure products from their source points, which led to an increase in costs. They are now sourcing products from the destination points, and this has significantly cut down logistics costs.
Moreover, the number of low-cost carriers in the market is increasing, with favorable government regulations, the opening up of new city pairs, and the liberalization of traffic flow. Thus, the ongoing advancements in inflight catering for full-service carriers may lead to a focus on this segment. To increase air passengers' airlines are introducing attractive menu, for instance, China Airlines had introduced a number of summer-themed offerings in its in-flight menu, like Okinawa-only hand-painted eco-friendly boxed lunch, Italian gelato on European routes, refreshing complimentary plum juice for Business Class and a variety of other summer beverages to provide air passengers with new and cooling catering services to beat the summer heat.
The Economy Class Segment is Projected to Grow at a Fast Pace During the Forecast Period
Currently, in the Chinese inflight catering market, by aircraft class, economy class is expected to have the highest share. Rising expenditure on the construction of new airports due to growing air traffic drives segment growth across the country. As economy class passengers have a choice of service and type of airline, carriers cannot serve them substandard meals and have to maintain high-quality standards because the food is a major deciding factor for economy class passengers. The rise in air passengers will force airlines to add new aircraft to their fleets which will give rise to the inflight catering market.
One of the major trends in China's economy-class meals is the growing preference of passengers for healthy in-flight food services. Historically, business and first-class passengers were always ahead in demanding healthy food options, but now economy-class passengers are also joining the demand. Instead of red meat options, like beef and pork, passengers are demanding white meat, like chicken and fish. Kullaflyg, which is a Sweden-based airline, took advantage of this trend and started serving economy class passengers with organic inflight meals. Economy class remains the most significant segment for each airline in China. However inflight caterers are facing many challenges such as time of flight, length of flight, the point of embarkation and disembarkation, the cost of labor to make a food item, and the ability of the meal to withstand low humidity and pressures.
