Virgin Australia has revealed plans for its biggest inflight menu shakeup in five years with a host of culinary delights for its business and economy class passengers.
Among the new additions, economy class passengers will be able to indulge in 12 new delights while business class passengers will see a significant revamp to the meals now available on flights.
“We are proud to continue evolving our food and beverage offering and today’s announcement represents one of the biggest investments in our onboard menu in the last five years, which is a testament to our focus on making the Virgin Australia travel journey wonderful,” Virgin Australia Chief Customer and Digital Officer, Paul Jones said.
While launching its new inflight menu on June 4, 2024, Virgin Australia also revealed that the humble cheese and crackers is its most popular flight snack with more than 50,000 packets served each month.
The new business class menu was curated and taste-tested by the airline’s cabin crew and some of Velocity Frequent Flyer’s most traveled members.
Made from locally sourced Australian produce, the menu features popular dishes from a host of global origins, including modern Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Italian and western dishes, ensuring there is a range of options to suit varying tastes.
Vegetarians, vegans and those seeking low-gluten dishes will all be catered for with options available for both business and economy class passengers.
The new business class menu includes amongst others:
- Corn fritters with goat cheese and capsicum relish
- Cheese and chive crumpet with bacon, scrambled eggs and beans
- Pumpkin gnocchi, creamy pesto with optional chorizo
- Soba noodle salad with chicken and teriyaki dressing
- Cheese tortellini Caesar salad with optional prosciutto
- Sweet pork belly with rice and vegetables
- Goat cheese with apricot and sumac amuse bouche
- Mango coconut cake
- White chocolate and macadamia cake
While economy guests will receive complimentary tea, coffee and water, the food options available to them are for purchase only.
More substantial items available for purchase include ham and cheese sourdough toasties, chicken and sun-dried tomato pesto wraps and chicken salad sourdough sandwiches.
Economy Class customers on longer routes to and from Perth or on select international flights will also be able to indulge in hot dishes including pesto pasta and Penang chicken curry.
Virgin Australia also announced that it was introducing digital wallet payments including Apple Pay and Google Pay, meaning physical bank cards are no longer needed when purchasing food and beverage onboard.
The tech enhancement is part of Virgin Australia’s $300 million digital investment which has seen the airline introduce an Australian-first baggage tracking tool across domestic and international flights, Rapid Rebook, app upgrades and digital personalization.
Virgin Australia’s new inflight menu is available from June 4, 2024.