Swiss International launches catering initiatives to reduce food waste

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has launched two new sustainable catering initiatives intended to reduce food waste within its ‘SWISS Saveurs’ inflight meal concept for economy class travellers on its short- and medium-haul flights.

The first, named ‘SWISS Saveurs Pre-Order’, allows customers to individually order any items on the SWISS Saveurs menu in advance of their flight. And with ‘SWISS Saveurs To Go’ passengers on the last evening flights of the day can purchase any remaining SWISS Saveurs items at ‘substantially reduced’ prices.

The SWISS Saveurs Pre-Order menu includes freshly prepared products such as salads, sweet bakery items and sandwiches made to the recipes of Confiserie Sprüngli, a famous Swiss confectioner, along with the Beyond Meat Burger, which is offered on longer flights. Any of these items can be pre-ordered up to 36 hours before departure via the swiss.com/saveurs-preorder booking link. The new option is available for all short- and medium-haul services from or to Zurich or Geneva of more than 50 minutes flying time, from 20 April onwards. Customers will only pay for their pre-ordered item when it is served to them by the cabin crew in the course of their flight.

“Reducing waste and avoiding having to unnecessarily dispose of unused food items have a vital place in our overall sustainability strategy,” stated SWISS’s chief commercial officer, Tamur Goudarzi Pour. “In providing this new pre-ordering option, we aim to further enhance our ability to align the production of our freshly prepared inflight food items to customer demand, and thereby reduce the volumes of unused food products that we have to dispose of on board.”

The ‘SWISS Saveurs To Go’ initiative also launches on 20 April, whereby cabin crews on the last evening flights of the day back to Zurich and Geneva will, after the regular inflight service, offer their passengers the opportunity to buy unsold items at a reduced price. The availability of such items will be communicated via an inflight announcement shortly before landing and, if available, the products will be offered in the form of a ‘surprise bag’ made up by the cabin crew.