Flydubai To Launch Paid-For Meals

Low-cost airline flydubai will roll out a paid-for meals service for its economy passengers on routes over three hours within the next month.

Daniel Kerrison, vice president Inflight Product at flydubai, confirmed the development in an Inflight Workshop at the Aircraft Interiors Middle East conference in Dubai today. Passengers can order the meals – priced at around Dhs40 – through flydubai.com.

“It’s really what you’d expect on economy on other airlines – there’s a salad, hot meal and dessert – and there’s around 25 different meals that can be ordered, including an all-day breakfast.

“We’ve been doing it on routes to Juba and Beirut for three months now and the whole network, on flights over three hours, should be covered by the end of March.

“Passengers will have the freedom to eat what they want and when they eat. As we have this buy on board service, it’s difficult to judge demand – so this ensures customers get what they want and reduces our exposure to potential wastage. It’s the next evolution of the product.”

Sandwiches and wraps will still be available for purchase on board.

Business class passengers, who receive their meals complimentary, can access high-definition movies and up-to-date news content through their IFE screens – but wifi isn’t part of their plans in the immediate future.

“We will continue to develop and innovate the embedded IFE system and focus on the next generation of hardware,” said Kerrison.