Summary

• Onboard chefs enhance the quality of in-flight food, offering a step above pre-prepared meals.
• A few airlines have onboard chefs who create gourmet meals and provide flexibility when customizing dishes.
• Turkish Airlines and Austrian Airlines have reinstated their onboard chefs for select long-haul flights in recent years.

When traveling in business or first class, the higher ticket price covers several perks not reserved for economy class passengers. Perhaps the most prominent aspect is the seat. On longer sectors, it can provide much-needed rest and relaxation in the form of a lie-flat bed. However, the food you are served in this cabin also tends to be a step above the economy offering. Some airlines go even further with an onboard chef, but which ones?

What does an onboard chef do?

Onboard chefs help airlines to take their catering to the next level in several ways. For example, their presence allows certain ingredients to be freshly prepared in the sky. This generally helps to enhance the overall quality of a dish, particularly in an industry that relies on pre-prepared meals. Of course, these can be very nice, too, but freshly prepared ingredients are a welcome bonus.

The presence of an onboard chef also offers greater flexibility. Regarding pre-prepared meals, passengers can generally choose between the dishes as a whole. However, with an onboard chef plating ingredients one at a time, they can chop and change individual components if necessary.

Check out Simple Flying's guide on how food is cooked on an aircraft.

Which airlines have them?

Where can you find these airborne culinary masters? Even before the pandemic forced airlines to make catering cuts (more on that shortly), onboard chefs were only present at a handful of airlines. According to the travel website Travelling on Points, the following airlines have onboard chefs:

• Austrian Airlines
• Garuda Indonesia
• Gulf Air
• Saudia
• Turkish Airlines

Etihad Airways used to be well-known for its luxury chefs onboard flights, but the Middle Eastern carrier decided to drop them over the pandemic and has yet to announce any planned return. Turkish Airlines is one of the leading carriers in terms of fine dining with an onboard chef. Its 'Flying Chefs' create gourmet meals from fresh ingredients in the onboard kitchen and have even started offering candlelit dinners, a first for the industry. In a feature with Forbes, Mustafa Can Aydoğdu, Lead Chef at Turkish Airlines, said,

"Our premium dining service, designed by our partnership catering company, Turkish DO & CO, allows us to source the freshest, seasonal ingredients and prepare our meals in a commercial kitchen with the highest standard of service."

Discover more aviation news with Simple Flying.

Has anything changed after the pandemic?

During the COVID pandemic, almost no corner of the airline industry remained untouched, including the catering sector. While many carriers reduced their onboard catering services during this period, most of the industry is back on its feet. However, have there been any changes regarding onboard chefs since the pandemic?

Turkish Airlines was one of the first carriers to reinstate its flying chefs back in May 2021 on flights of over eight hours. After a hiatus over the pandemic, Austrian Airlines also announced its onboard chefs would be returning this summer for select long-haul flights. Onboard chefs were already something of a rarity even before the pandemic, so plan ahead if you want to catch a flight with a sky chef.

Have you ever been served food prepared by an onboard chef? If so, what was the airline and meal in question? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

Source: Travelling on Points, Forbes