Etihad Airways to Enhance Inflight Dining Experience

Etihad Airways plans to transform its inflight dining service, with the introduction of qualified international chefs in its Diamond First class cabins.

“This development will enable us to offer a five-star restaurant style of service in the sky, with our First class guests receiving unparalleled attention and choice – for example, the opportunity of having their personal chef tailor make dishes based on their individual tastes and preferences,” said Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, James Hogan. “We know how important the inflight dining experience is to our guests, which is why we have invested consistently in this area, benchmarking our food and beverage selection and service outside the airline industry and against the most outstanding examples from the global hospitality industry. The introduction of our Food and Beverage Managers, recruited globally from hotels and restaurants, serves as an example of this, as is the introduction of our highly successful Inspired Service concept across all aircraft cabins.”

Etihad is recruiting 100 chefs this year, and has already started looking for fully qualified professionals with formal culinary training and experience in esteemed hotels, restaurants and culinary institutions from around the world.

To oversee the introduction, training and ongoing quality control of the onboard chefs, Etihad has appointed acclaimed chef Thomas Ulherr to the position of Corporate Executive Chef. Most recently, Thomas served as Senior Manager Catering and Executive Chef for Royal Jet. Among his numerous accolades, Thomas is a three-time Gold Medal winner in the IKA Culinary Olympics.

The new chef service will be introduced progressively on selected routes from October this year and will be available on all flights offering First class by the end of 2011.

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