Technology
Things ain’t what they used to be
Jeremy Clark looks at how the airline caterer business model has changed and how Inflair and IT have managed to keep up with the changes and adapt accordingly
In the Good Old Days, to manage the ups and downs of day-to-day airline catering caterers either had complicated mainframe computers running bespoke systems or they used lots and lots of paper and pens. These bespoke systems were expensive (back
then caterers could afford it) and usually run by oversized IT departments. Communication between them and the Real World was shaky at best and often non-existent. When Inflair was first conceptualised as a tailor-made business and operations system for airline caterers, the catering world was a very different place. Inflair wanted to make a system that would use a single source
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code but be scalable to catering operations regardless of size, type or volume. This meant choosing flexible operating systems, a database that was inexpensive and a hardware platform whose power growth would outpace demand. In those days, Java was a type of coffee and Cloud Technology was an attempt by scientists to make it rain. Looking into the crystal ball was hard but the choices were right and the challenge was met. Inflair managed to keep up with the changes and over the past 15 years has licensed more than 30 different airline catering operations in all five continents. However, things ain’t what they used to be.
The business model has changed out of all recognition in many areas but in other areas they have hardly changed at all. To see the contrasts, take a look at the table of top 10 airlines by volume 2010 compared to 2000 (see next page). In 2000 all of these airlines offered a ‘full service’ on most routes in all classes. Back then, Ryanair didn’t even make the top 30. Today, of these top 10, two are in China and
of the other eight only two offer what one might call ‘catering’ on both international and short-haul routes in all cabins. The rest either try and sell you something or don’t bother. The caterers who supply these
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