All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s biggest carrier is all set up to offer first-class dining to generate revenue and make the best of a bad job—when the global airline industry is struggling to survive amidst travel restrictions due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
ANA got passengers on board to offer a special dining experience on a parked Boeing 777 plane at 59,800 yen ($541), while the offering’s business-class equivalent is priced at 29,800 yen. The Japanese carrier welcomed customers on the wide-body situated at Tokyo Haneda.
Typically offered on international flights, ANA will offer three food options to customers to choose from in advance- Western-style fish, Western-style beef, or Japanese-style. To make the service more real, ANA’s drink menu had champagne and wine—as flight attendants welcomed the customers on board. On the first day of the offering, the carrier saw 56 guests for lunch on the idle plane. ANA calls the whole experience a “restaurant with wings”.
As slots open for April, the airline is finding them to be sold out quickly.
Notably, 21units of ANA’s fleets are on the ground while 44 of its aircraft are currently parked. In desperate times like these, several other airlines have creatively shifted their attention to similar endeavors.
