ARC Review
ARC London 2012
This year’s Airline Retail Conference (ARC) at the Hilton London Metropole attracted over 500 delegates from across the globe. OnBoard Hospitality reports
As ancillary revenue continues to play an increasingly vital role in world of profit and loss for the airline industry, it was no surprise to see a record number of airline delegates at this year’s ARC in London. It was also good to see the conference supported by over 70 stands in exhibition hall and innovation gallery covering products ranging from puzzles to pashminas, and snacks to spirits.
Said event director Alex Vail: “Given the current economy and the challenges that are facing the airline industry as a whole, we were absolutely delighted that ARC2012 attracted record numbers this year with an overall increase of 23% attendees; the largest attendance in our six year history.”
Improving the Inflight Food and Beverage Offering
The two-day conference featured one session particularly close to our hearts: ‘Improving the Inflight Food and Beverage Offering’. When IFSA president, David Loft, suddenly found he was unable to moderate, we asked Jeremy Clark to
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step in on behalf of OnBoard Hospitality. The panel featured British Airways’ Mark Tazzioli, menu design manager at British Airways; Dorothy Burton, DHL inflight product manager; David Rodriguez from Alaska Airlines and Nikos Loukas of the InflightFeed website. Jeremy could not resist asking Mark Tazzioli how BA was reinvesting the obvious savings from its move to DHL back into the inflight product. Mark was adamant that there are serious moves afoot to upgrade the product, not only on the long and medium haul BA routes, but also in the main cabin on shorter routes where there is currently a distinct shortage. Mark also reiterated BA’s commitment to a free foodservice in all cabins on all routes, which will clearly set them apart from the LCCs and some scheduled competitors who have moved to buy-on- board in some areas.
For Dorothy’s part, DHL is clearly now the ‘new kid on the catering block’. She brings 22 years’ of BA experience with her and makes DHL a formidable new presence in the market.
However, it’s not all just about getting stuff to the right place at the right time as she points out. It’s having an understanding of what airlines want to serve their passengers and that is clearly a very big part of how many paying customers remember their airline experience. Dorothy’s task is to support DHL’s understanding of how making and suggesting improvements to the offering are a major part of the service.
Air Alaska has its own story to tell on how it has made improvements to the F&B offering. See ‘Local Sourcing’ on page 45 of this issue. Nikos knows, probably better than many, where improvements can best be made, having taken the brave choice of flying on as many low cost carriers and buy-on-board airlines as possible in the past six months. Air Lingus scored well and Skywork Airlines (Bern,CH) was praised for its wide variety of choice and fresh offerings.
Main picture, The inflight food and beverage panel; above right, limited edition Stone’s Punch distributed by Accolade Wines
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