SN Brussels Airlines new in-flight catering concept

OO-VEX · Post by **OO-VEX** » 26 Feb 2004, 23:04

Hello,

As this press release gives all the details, i've put the complete press release over here.

SN Brussels Airlines is investing in in-flight catering and service

Whilst other airlines are cancelling the free meals and service on board their planes SN Brussels Airlines is investing in in-flight products. As from 1st March SN Brussels Airlines will offer a new and trendy “Brussels Bistro” meal in economy class. As from April the service in the long haul business class will radically change. Quality has never been more important.

There is a good reason why Passionate about you is the slogan of SN Brussels Airlines. Our passion for the passengers is proved every day thanks to our punctual flights, rapid service on the ground and the “all inclusive” service on board. The efforts have been amply rewarded by the 4-star quotation from a recognised public survey.

From 1st March SN Brussels Airlines is going one step further with the new Brussels Bistro Concept. Depending on the time of the day and on the flight duration SN Brussels Airlines will serve hot breakfasts, hot meals and original snacks and salads in Economy Class. Healthy, fresh and quality were the key words while choosing these meals. Vegetables with sauce for dips, pizzas, couscous, chicken piccata, pasta with tomato sauce and pesto or fusili pasta are a few examples of the new and healthy “Brussels Bistro” menu. All the meals are neatly wrapped in boxes. More than 7.500 passengers will benefit from the new Brussels Bistro catering concept every day.

Being Belgian, SN Brussels Airlines also brings a few typical local accents to Brussels Bistro. Belgian beers, 3 million bars of Neuhaus quality chocolate and 300.000 pieces of pie have already been ordered for the clients in the upcoming year.

“While the trend in the aviation is to offer less and less service, SN Brussels Airlines is going upstream” said Philip Saunders, Executive Vice President Commercial of SN Brussels Airlines. “From our survey it appears that our clients highly appreciate quality free meals and service.”

The new Brussels Bistro concept is developed by the Catering department of SN Brussels Airlines in collaboration with the catering company LSG Skychefs and the Dutch group Supplair. SN Brussels Airlines is the biggest client of LSG Skychefs Belgium and is responsible for a significant share of the catering company’s profits that employs 300 people in Zaventem.

It's is very nice to see SNBA improving their service.

They know very well what passengers want

I hope to see some pics of the new meals very soon.

OO-VEX

NicoD · Post by **NicoD** » 26 Feb 2004, 23:21

Hi,

Will the passenger be able to choose on board what to eat? Looks actually a bit confusing to me... :-s And what exactly is 'the change' than? I thought the kind of meals served on SNBA's flights already now always depended on the flight time and duration.. Or am I wrong here?

CU
NicoD :wave:

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 27 Feb 2004, 09:18

Impressive!

Look forward to try out their new concept this summer...

Frederic

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 27 Feb 2004, 19:54

That's a wonderful idea. I always loved their sandwidhces, but hot meals or great

I thought the kind of meals served on SNBA's flights already now always depended on the flight time and duration

Well, not that much I think. In the morning you had a croissant and a sandwich, but for the rest you always had a similar sandwich (I'm talking about Y class of cours). But know they will also serve hot dishes in economy 8)

SNBA for sure knows what the pax want. They want quality, punctuality a great service and a cheap prize. And SNBA has all those caracteristics

Greetz
Chris
8)

DannyVDB · Post by **DannyVDB** » 27 Feb 2004, 22:30

Yes, it's important to make some additional effort without too much costs. I understand a simple sandwich very well on very short flights. But early February I took a SNBA flight from Helsinki to Brussels - which is taking 2,5h and we got the same sandwich as on the very short flights ... Compared to the AY flight BRU-HEL it was rather poor. So a good thing I would say ...

Danny

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 28 Feb 2004, 12:08

demol wrote:
Whilst other airlines are cancelling the free meals and service on board their planes SN Brussels Airlines is investing in in-flight products.
This statement is too easy If you make such a statement, the least you can do is give us some names & examples of airlines who (did) cut in-flight services I can give a few examples myself, but I would like to hear them from SN :devil2: Do they dare

Well, I could also give some examples, but why should SNBA mention those airlines in their press release. If they start to make press releases where they name the bad service of other airlines, you can be sure that they'll do the same with SN. And that's not what they want

I know you prefer the agressive way, but in my opinion there was no need for that in the rpess release

demol wrote:What survey http://www.airlinequality.com ...Very reliable

Well, why not. The best feedback you can have is the one coming from the customer

Greetz
Chris 8)

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 28 Feb 2004, 13:16

Well, I could also give some examples, but why should SNBA mention those airlines in their press release. If they start to make press releases where they name the bad service of other airlines, you can be sure that they'll do the same with SN.

There are laws and limitations when you want to compare several companies/... (in this case: airlines) in your advertisements.

I don't think that demol refers to the agressive campaigns of Ryanair (with comparision between FR and LH fares, or FR and Sabena fares). I believe that BA started an advertisement campaign a few weeks ago, in which they highlighted their economy class service. They paid special attention to the fact they still offer free meals.

In my opinion, the way BA highlighted their unique selling propositions (tasty meals/self service check-in, online seat allocation, online check-in, they fly from real airports/...) is the best way to promote your product. If I would be SN, I would not start attacking the concurrence (like FR/EZY/...) as Chris correctly pointed out.

Frederic

killerwhale65 · Post by **killerwhale65** » 28 Feb 2004, 13:20

NicoD wrote:And what exactly is 'the change' than?

hot meals of course. Since SAbena there havent been any hot meals anymore. Now thats gonna change.

Jumbolino · Post by **Jumbolino** » 28 Feb 2004, 15:02

demol,
read my trip reports and you will easily know which airlines and SN can only say whilst other and not to quote special names is intelligent,
but the empty desk I had INN-FRA on OS was a real good indicator, which airlines they mean
(others like LH only reduced it but OS and LX cutted it completely on flights =< 100 min. which means many (merely all) inner-european routes .....
and I will enjoy the new SN meals

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 28 Feb 2004, 15:23

demol - Aer Lingus have done away with the meal on some flights. On my flight between MAn and DUB there was no food offrered at all, not even a sandwich.

OCR_ole_ole · Post by **OCR_ole_ole** » 29 Feb 2004, 02:41

I hope just one thing: this service may not kill SNBA as it is the effect at Swiss...

I think that two possibilities are on the market: a. you offer a complete great service but the pax pay for it
b. you offer a low fare system, and pax pays what he needs

The in between scenarios are difficult to survive.

Good luck to them, it is nice to offer a great service but don't forget the price of it

Post by **sn26567** » 29 Feb 2004, 10:16

demol wrote:One of the best examples of airlines who did cut back on its in-flight catering & services is without any doubt Swiss (LX) But LX is an important code-sharing partner of SN 8O LX operates 42 weekly flights ex-BRU to Zürich (ZRH) & 18 weekly flights ex-BRU to Basel (BSL), all in code-sharing with SN So SN is proud of the fact that they provide excellent (enhanced) in-flight catering & services, but at the same time they code-share with an airline whose in-flight policy is the exact opposite of the SN in-flight policy 8O What is this all about If SN wants to be consistent, then they should force LX to upgrade their in-flight catering & services on the BRU routes or...SN should discontinue the code-sharing agreements with LX and operate those (or at least some) flights themselves

I am in full agreement with you for that, demol. SN shoud ask its codeshare partners to provide exactly te same service as it provides itself, or withdraw from the partnership and start its awn flights on that route.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 29 Feb 2004, 20:44

Thanks for your nice reply demol

I fullay agree with you n the LX issue

SN should definately ask LX to upgrade the inflight service on the BRu route or stop the codeshare. It's not enough to only put in the connect magazine a small text which says that you won't get any meals on LX flights

Greetz
Chris
8)

Post by **luchtzak** » 04 Mar 2004, 12:53

Hi all,

looks like somebody allready made some nice pictures of SN Brussels Airlines new inflight economy-class product!

http://coppermine.luchtzak.be/displayim ... ?pos=-1406
http://coppermine.luchtzak.be/displayim ... ?pos=-1405

http://coppermine.luchtzak.be/displayim ... ?pos=-1404
http://coppermine.luchtzak.be/displayim ... ?pos=-1407

greetz,

Bart
:rock:

Post by **sn26567** » 04 Mar 2004, 12:58

Mmmmh!

I can't wait to take my next SN flight on 11 March.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 04 Mar 2004, 14:12

I hope I get some of that on 31st March (and how about some Romy Pils as the in-flight beer? :drink:)