On October 18, the controversy over China Southern Airlines' "steamed bun cabbage" meal was still breaking out. It has also sparked a fierce debate about the cost of airline meals. After checking the financial reports of the three major airlines, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that in the first half of this year, China Southern Airlines' revenue ranked first among the three major airlines, but the cost of supplying food machinery was the lowest. Behind the "cabbage steamed buns", there was a commotion in the plane. A cost-cutting revolution.
In fact, in addition to China Southern Airlines, some in-flight meals of other airlines have also been criticized by many passengers. More and more airlines are looking for ways to save money on travel, but this is also accompanied by many customer complaints, which also proves that airlines still need a more scientific approach when it comes to saving money.
Behind the turmoil: China Southern Airlines meal prices are the lowest among the three major airlines
On October 14, a customer with the online name "Fengge Fleeing" (pronounced "Fengge") posted two pictures of airplane meals on Weibo, with the caption "Four steamed bones, one package of squeezed vegetables, one package of cabbage." "This is the first time I've seen a bizarre airplane meal in years."
The pictures posted by Brother Feng show that there are four kinds of steamed buns and a cabbage in the lunch box, and there are orange mustard on the table. Later, on the evening of October 17, Feng Ge posted on Weibo again, confirming that China Southern Airlines had distributed in-flight meals. The special delivery time is the second flight segment of Shenyang Taoxian Airport to Xining Caojiapu Airport via Hohhot.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily asked China Southern Airlines about the issue of "flour cabbage". As of press time, China Southern has not made an official response.
In fact, behind the "bun cabbage" hides a revolution in airlines trying to reduce costs.
Civil aviation industry analyst Li Hanming investigated, believes that the reason why China Southern Airlines provides in-flight meals may be related to the cost savings of airlines or airport capacity.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily flipped through the 2023 annual reports of Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines and found that among the three major airlines, China Southern Airlines is the airline with the highest revenue, but the lowest cost of meals and portions.
According to the financial report, China Southern Airlines' revenue in the first half of the year was 71.83 billion yuan and its operating costs were 66.899 billion yuan. Among the operating costs, the supply cost of food machinery was 1.049 billion yuan, accounting for 1.56% of the cost. In the same period last year, it was 588 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.40%. China Southern announced in its financial report that the main reason for the price change in food machinery supply is the half-year-on-year increase in passenger traffic and the growth of food machinery since the beginning of this year. Supplies.
In the 2023 annual reports of Air China and China Eastern Airlines, Air China's revenue reached 59.613 billion yuan, and the cost of in-flight meals was 1.167 billion yuan, accounting for 1.97% of labor costs. China Eastern's revenue was 49.425 billion yuan, and its catering and service costs were 1.28 billion yuan, accounting for 2.52% of the cost.
There is no dinner
According to Fengge Weibo reported on October 17, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily searched for Fengge's flight on the China Southern Airlines APP. According to the China Southern Airlines app, the flight number is CZ6117, and the special economy class price starts from 900 yuan on October 19. In the definition of meals on this flight, the first segment of the Shenyang-Hohhot flight segment economy class, Pearl economy class, business class and first class meals are "snacks", and the second segment economy class and Pearl economy class meals are "snacks". The Hohhot-Xining section of the road is full of "snacks". Meals in the cabin are "snacks", and meals in business class and first class are "main meals".
Feng Ge said that the first food on the journey was bread. The Chinese desserts at the second stop are not all buns, but also flower rolls, two-color buns, red bean paste buns and pastries. Regarding China Southern Airlines' catering, Feng Ge said that he did not want to criticize China Southern Airlines. "To be honest, it was fun, but a little overwhelming. I want it to contain protein. I choked on eating too many Chinese snacks. ”
So, what kind of meals should airlines offer at different times, and how to determine the price and cost of meals? Chen Pengliang (pseudonym), who works in an airline, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that there is currently no clear and unified standard, only the definition of an airline.
A reporter from Beijing Business Daily checked the news and found that according to industry practice, food standards change according to the length of flight distance. Among them, if the flight time is less than one hour, the flight food is dry food, including bread, biscuits or hamburgers; If the flight duration is more than two hours and it is meal time, the flight meal is the main meal; If the flight duration and flight duration are approximately two hours, and between meals, passengers may also receive a light meal or snack.
Regarding the preparation of airline meals, the National Food Safety Standard Aviation Food Hygiene Code implemented on December 23, 2017 stipulates that the airline on the flight providing meals, the situation of the equipment (cabinets, refrigeration, heating) and the production capacity of the aircraft should fully consider the installation time of the food distribution device on board and other influencing factors. Strictly implement aviation safety risks.
However, the regulation does not specify the type and price of food.
In fact, the production of aviation food goes through several stages. Chen Pengliang told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the production of aviation food is the responsibility of airlines, and airlines buy food from airlines and hand them over to passengers. "The exact type of meals served is determined by the airline. Under normal circumstances, the airline's customer service department will contact the airline to develop the requested meal, and the airline will do as requested. ”
Chen Pengliang also revealed that China Southern Airlines currently has its own in-flight catering business. According to the financial report of China Southern Airlines, its subsidiary Guangzhou Southern Airlines Catering Co., Ltd. It is an airline operator with 70.5% of the capital held by China Southern Airlines. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily searched the Tianyancha App and found that the business scope of Guangzhou Nanlian Airlines Food Co., Ltd. is "Guangzhou Nanlian Airlines Food Co., Ltd." Including the preparation of food on board the aircraft (including the preparation of cakes and mooncakes), as well as the provision of food and alcoholic beverages. , sugar and wine are available for domestic and international airlines. and providing in-flight catering related services for domestic and foreign airlines (the above are limited to "China Southern Airlines catering and its subsidiary "other" operations).
"Airlines and airports can set up their own catering companies, but generally this depends on the number of flights departing from the local area and passenger demand. At airports with less demand, airlines will generally ask a catering company at the local airport to deliver the airline meal. Therefore, the meals that airlines can provide to passengers are often related to the budget of the airline and the local eating habits."
Airline cost control goes beyond meals
The "steamed bun cabbage" turmoil has also caused heated discussions. Under Brother Feng's two Weibos, there are consumer comments, "Bitter sweet rice", "Mantou flower rolls are traditional Chinese staple foods, you can't eat it like this", "It's good to give some protein".
There is no shortage of consumers complaining about different airlines' in-flight meals on social media platforms. Some consumers said that after purchasing Hainan Airlines economy class tickets, they found that they could order food in advance, and specially chose the paella recommended by many people, but opened it and found that there were only 5 shrimp dumplings.
Some consumers posted that the meal on Shenzhen Airlines' Nanchang-Taiyuan route was a biscuit and a bottle of water. "Seeing that the flight description says that if there is a meal, you will not eat dinner, and the two-hour flight will not be just a cookie, and it is easy to misunderstand that there is a meal." The consumer said.
Song Xi, a passenger with rich experience in flying, told the Beijing Business Daily reporter, "I have also encountered the situation of providing strange meals in business class before, and a banana toast was provided for the business class meal on the flight that day, and a few bananas were put on a piece of toast, and the bananas had oxidized when they got it." The tray under the toast has tomatoes and chicken cake on one side and jam on the other."
In Song Xi's view, the menu design of some airline aircraft meals is incomprehensible, and correspondingly, the taste is not delicious. "I think there are many factors that affect the quality of airline meals, depending on how airlines and catering companies regulate them."
The cost reduction changes of airlines are not limited to meals, Beijing Business Daily has previously reported on airlines' online check-in seat selection charges, some international routes have a high proportion of economy class paid seats, too few free seats, and business class seat selection also has to charge.
Whether it is meals or seat selection, airlines can explore measures to reduce costs, but there are constant complaints on the road to cost reduction, which also proves that airlines still need more scientific methods to save costs.
"In any case, it is really not appropriate for dim sum meal ration to be 4 steamed buns. Consumers pay for it, and their flights also explain that meals are included, which does need to take into account the consumer's experience and feelings, and the quality of service provided to passengers cannot also be saved with the cost. Chen Pengliang said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Guan Zichen Niu Qingyan