Savour Asian flavours in Santan, Philippines AirAsia's new menu concept

Source: AirAsia. Santan is Philippines AirAsia's new
inflight menu concept.

Philippines AirAsia has begun serving hot meals from its newest inflight menu concept, Santan. Santan replaces AirAsia Café as part of the airline’s latest offerings to enhance customer experience while flying. The name refers to an essential ingredient in Malay cooking, the liquid obtained from pressing shredded coconut meat. Santan is thick, creamy and often use as a substitute for butter, cream or soup stock in ASEAN cooking.

New items include bangus sisig, a Filipino dish made of chunks of boneless milkfish sautéed in onions seasoned with salt, pepper and spices; buffalo chicken strips and barbeque cola beef, grilled meat with smoky sauce paired with tomato rice or roasted potatoes; and the low-calorie vegetarian chickpea curry and classic Maan’s pasta arabiata. The dishes are available for onboard and prebooked purchases on all Philippines AirAsia flights to/from Manila, Kalibo/Boracay, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Davao, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea.

Other dishes on the menu also pay tribute to ASEAN flavours. These include nasi lemak, chicken rice, beef caldereta and adobo. Guests can also choose from sweets such as lemon torte, banoffee cake, sinful chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies from as low as P80 for onboard purchase.

Philippines AirAsia Commercial Head, Gerard Peñaflor said, “We value customer experience at all points of the journey – from the purchase of the ticket to leaving the airport, on board, and onto the destination. This latest enhancement in our inflight menu makes flying with us also a delightful dining experience.”

Interested?

AirAsia guests are encouraged to prebook their meals to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing their meals on board, with a guarantee that their preferred meals are available during their flights. Guests who have booked their flights without meals, meanwhile, can easily add them in via the ‘Manage My Booking’ option after logging in to www.airasia.com.

AirAsia and AirAsia X launch a new inflight menu concept

Source: AirAsia.

AirAsia and AirAsia X have launched a new inflight menu concept themed Santan, replacing AirAsia Café as part of the airline group’s move towards being a high value carrier and providing its guests with an enhanced gourmet experience while flying.

There are new items such as nasi dagang* and chicken curry, a Malaysian dish from the East Coast which is now available on for on-board purchase and pre-book on both AirAsia and AirAsia X flights. Other items available for on-board purchase on AirAsia flights include teriyaki chicken rice cake, smoked chicken pizza sandwich; while new pre-book meals are tomato rice with ayam percik*, chicken satay wrap and vegetable pasta with roast chicken.

AirAsia X has also included mee goreng mamak* in its pre-book selection as part of introducing more Malaysian and Asean dishes to its guests.

Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia commented, “Food is a big thing for us. Look at how we have made Pak Nasser nasi lemak* into a brand itself. We have people travelling from all across the region wanting to order our nasi lemak and this Malaysian dish is a standout in our inflight menu. 

"Our food is as good as restaurant food – it’s not just inflight food and this is what we want to achieve with Santan – introduce a new gourmet inflight dining experience which features cuisines from across ASEAN. We are starting with AirAsia and AirAsia X flights after the launch... but we will be implementing this across the whole group by October.”

Apart from the new pre-book meals on AirAsia Berhad (AK) flights, guests are now able to add a sweet ending to the meal of their choice with the introduction of the Maximise Your Meal option which includes a salted caramel cookie bar and a Kit Kat for RM7.

“While we continue to give low fares to our guests, we are increasing the value with new product offerings such as Premium Flex, Premium Flatbed, and the introduction of this new gourmet experience on board is part of us moving in that direction,” added Fernandes.

Interested?

All AirAsia and AirAsia X guests are encouraged to pre-book their meals to save up to 20% as compared to purchasing their meals on board, with a guarantee that their preferred meals are available. Guests who have booked their flights without meals can easily add them in via the Manage My Booking option after logging in to airasia.com.

*Food glossary
Ayam percik is grilled or roasted spiced chicken.
Mee goreng mamak is fried noodles, Indian style.
Nasi dagang consists of rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry, and other dishes.
Nasi lemak consists of rice steamed in coconut milk, fried fish or chicken, and other dishes.

Inflight Internet on China Eastern Airlines and Skymark Airlines

Source: Panasonic Avionics.

China Eastern Airlines (CEA) and Skymark Airlines, Japan’s third largest airline, are both offering broadband-connected flights facilitated by Panasonic Avionics.

CEA's first aircraft equipped with inflight WiFi tailored to the unique requirements of China is an Airbus A330. The aircraft has been dedicated to routes between Shanghai and Beijing, allowing government agencies to observe operation of the service before granting full regulatory approval for operation on additional domestic and international routes.

Skymark Airlines is introducing the free-of-charge in-flight WiFi service on its fleet of new Airbus A330s for domestic flights. The same free WiFi experience is expected to be available on their international A380 fleet, initially on flights to North America.

Shinichi Nishikubo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Skymark Airlines said, “Our customers love in-flight WiFi, and today, we are taking a strategic step forward to ensure that our passengers can be both entertained and productive everywhere our aircraft fly.”