Virtue from necessity

Business class meals continue to be a point of differentiation for airlines, but increasingly this requires only a limited amount of galley space. British Airways, for example, offers an afternoon tea service with finger sandwiches and warmed scones with clotted cream and jam, as well as chilled salad plates for late evening flights.

On long-haul flights, Qantas’s recent innovative move away from the halfdozen tiny pots on an economy tray to a larger substantial main portion is an example of speeding up service while also requiring less galley space and less weight.

So, what happens to that space? It’s about making galleys multifunctional and enabling passenger selfservice, especially on widebody aircraft. Airlines from American Airlines to Finnair to China Airlines are glamming up the dim and industrial vibe to make galleys a place for premium passengers to spend some time stretching and refreshing themselves, without locking themselves into the hard product fixed bar route that Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, Korean Air and the Gulf carriers have taken.

Evoking the expansive upper deck spaces of the first generation of Boeing 747 operators, like Qantas’s Captain Cook Lounge, these spaces are convivial and popular, even drawing passengers away from their fully flat beds with direct aisle access or the rarefied confines of their first class suites.

In Korean Air’s case, the bar also allows for a partnership with vodka brand Absolut, which can conveniently be purchased in the duty free shopping area downstairs.

Fixed bars certainly have their place – the two Virgin airlines use their bars both as brand positioning and dual-purpose staging areas during beverage rounds and meal services, while Korean, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar gain significant halo effects from the real estate used up by their bars. But it’s clear from the limited number of airlines using standalone bars that most cabininterior decision makers are going down a different route and improving space formerly devoted to galleys instead of adding bars.

That’s especially true at the “boarding galley”, usually at doors 2 on a typical widebody.

With advances in lighting come opportunities to improve the general feel of the place. American Airlines’ bar on its Boeing 777‑300ER uses both the airframer’s option of sweeping LED-lit overhead lighting by doors 2 and a custom moulded surround for the bar with star-like lighting added to backlit glassware. “Sparkle” is clearly the word of the moment as premium passengers munch on a range of displayed snacks and pour their own drinks.

Air New Zealand’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are outfitted similarly, although the Kiwi carrier focuses on its partnership with NZ wine producers, with a tasting room theme and a flat-panel screen providing a changing view.

Other carriers are jumping on the opportunity to customise their own aircraft and showcase their culture in this same space. Taipei-based China Airlines splits its space between the “Literary Tea-tasting Area” showcasing six Taiwanese teas and a “Fashionable Coffee Area” with capsule brews. Guangzhou’s China Southern, known for its relatively staid interiors, has continued its pattern of function over form with an unexciting but still useful bar area. National carrier Air China has done much the same, although it has at least gone for an elegant mirrored wall finish.

But innovation doesn’t require a brand new aircraft, or even a significant retrofit. At its main boarding door galley, Finnair has a pull-down screen that covers the unattractive inserts and their covers with a chic pattern from fellow Finns and design partners Marimekko.

Even in economy, the trend is for self-service, which both allows customers a feeling of control and saves airlines on staff costs to deliver drinks. Qantas’s Airbus A380s were well ahead of that trend, but it’s now moving towards narrowbodies, with US airline jetBlue’s transcontinental Mint Airbus A321 aircraft offering a glass-doored refrigerator where passengers can dip in for a soft drink and pick up a snack.

A jetBlue Diet Coke isn’t the free-flowing Krug offered in Qatar’s A380 bar – but the change itself is refreshing.