Then and now
least higher-flying things. A visit to the UK led him to Mary, who later became Mrs Hafner; to a job at The Dorchester hotel in London; and subsequently to an advert for an inflight catering superintendent at BOAC. This was something new and different in the catering world and Kurt was keen to grab its challenges. He's never looked back. BOAC was the ‘Queen of the Skies’ in the 1950s and 1960s and Kurt's first role was planning menus for all its routes. Life and travel expectations were very different back then and so too were the onboard challenges. Kurt recalls: “Of course costs were an issue in those days, as now, but service really was everything.” This was a time when BOAC and European sister business, BEA, were the principal British operators of scheduled international flights and had a truly pioneering role in the industry, setting standards and practice for those that followed.
In 1972, just as British Airways was being formed from the BOAC/BEA merger, Kurt became head of British Airways catering, based in Heathrow.
His challenges then reflected the turbulent political times in the UK. He says: “Chief among my challenges then was dealing with
"One thing remains constant. A huge part of the passenger perception of any airline is dependent on the onboard service. That's a fact they cannot escape"
the unions and keeping the production on track.” Kurt had many a confrontation with Jack Jones, a powerful union leader of the day, but always relished their negotiations and usually won the day.
He recalls: “On the service side we had a huge legacy. We were the world’s leader, especially in the premium class. We also had the excitement of Concorde, which was heaven to design for, but we always had to stay one step ahead."
The 1980s brought the challenge of privatisation under Lord King. Kurt’s role was to improve service whilst dramatically cutting cost. “I had to make savings everywhere. We managed to reduce staff by 30% in only nine months with no disruption to catering,” he says.
This period also saw the launch of Club World and World Traveller as British Airways brands. Kurt says: “Competition was always fierce especially from Swissair and later from Cathay, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.”
So in response, Kurt pioneered the Great Chefs Of The World programme, a concept now employed by many airlines, using the knowledge and notoriety of celebrity chefs to help promote brand awareness. Since then, the industry has gone through unimaginable change. Energy crises gave way to terrorist attacks, with the massive impact of low-cost carriers influencing everything in between.
Kurt summarises the change thus: “I like to think that in some areas, little has changed and service is still uppermost in the minds of airline executives. The truth is that accountants and yield are the main drivers now but service is certainly making a resurgence in the bigger multi-class carriers, which is good.”
One thing remains constant. Says Kurt: “A huge part of the passenger perception of any airline is always the onboard service, they cannot escape from that fact”.
Fears British Airways'
"We also had Concorde which was heaven to design for”
privatisation brought the challenge of improving service whilst dramatically cutting costs
surrounding the Gulf War suppressed
enthusiasm for
flying and trigger fears of a fuel crisis
Low-cost airlines develop the trend to affordable travel and buy-on-board
Industrial disputes were common place in the UK with Kurt going head to head with union bosses to keep onboard services on track.
Kurt pioneered the Great Chefs Of The World programme, a concept now employed by many - using celebrity chefs
Onboard service and style gets a brand new look with the launch of Club World and World Traveller brands
WWW.ONBOARDHOSPITALITY.COM 63
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