The end of tray service on planes

Neil Perry has redesigned Qantas's business class meal. Picture: Jane Dempster Source: News Limited

QANTAS has ditched the tray on flights to Perth. Business class passengers on Australia's longest domestic route will now get international standard table service. And economy is changing too.

Qantas and Neil Perry unveiled their new Perth business class a-la-carte menu in Sydney yesterday. The menu, including hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame dressing will be served on all Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Perth and Brisbane-Perth flights from later this month. 

What other changes would you like to see happen on planes? Tell us below. 

Qantas Domestic CEO Lyell Strambi said the airline had decided to ditch the trays in response to customer needs. Flight attendants will now take orders and serve dinners to customers on plates just like in a restaurant, rather than a food court. 

"Passengers can choose what they want and when they want it," Mr Strambi said. 

Hot smoked salmon salad with green tea noodles and sesame soy dressing (left), carrot and dill soup. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

That includes being left alone to sleep. 

The airline has already announced that they intend to install lie flat beds into all mid-week business class services to Perth from next year. 

The moves shows the battle for the WA airline market is heating up. From 2000 to 2008 domestic air travel was largely fuelled by the budget airline boom. Since the global financial crisis, Qantas says that it is business class that is really booming.

Passengers lucky enough to fly business class to Perth will experience a mouth-watering Neil Perry menu that includes two small entre sized meals and five main meals plus the option of small canapés to start and cheese and desert. 

Baked vanilla custard with basil and balsamic strawberries (left), seasonal cheese of the day. Picture: News.com.au Source: No Source

"The new menu gives customers a more contemporary dining experience while still taping into local produce and providing enough variation from frequent fliers," Mr Perry said. 

Not cashed up enough to fly business class? Mr Strambi said there will be changes happening in economy, too. But they will be announced later this year and he's staying very tight lipped.

View the original article here

What it's like to walk on a plane's wing

The Herald Sun’s Aaron Langmaid completes a wingwalk with the Breitling Wingwalkers ahead of the Avalon Airshow

BUDGET airlines have never been more extreme. No in-flight meal. No baggage allowance. Just standing room and an attendant to strap you in.

Good thing there are fewer corners cut when it came to the safety briefing for this wing-walk experience.

Release your buckle at altitude, comes the advice, and this little joy ride won't end so well. Roger that.

"Do not undo your belt when you're up there," air angel Danielle Hughes points out. "If there is a problem during the flight, just stay calm. The plane should just glide back to the tarmac."

Aaron in full flight. Picture: Alex Coppel

It is an extreme scenario, she admits, but one that prompts a quick prayer. As the former World War II training plane clunked on to a tarmac normally reserved for airbuses, this reporter briefly dials in again to the good Lord.

What followed - a display of flailing arms and the occasional yelp - was far from what crowds have come to expect from the Breitling Wingwalkers.

Based in England, the tight-knit group of pilots and aero-acrobats wow spectators from Manchester to Munich as summer airshows are hosted around Europe.

Up, up and away. The Breitling crew get Aaron in an aviation mood before take-off. Picture: Alex Coppel

The team has notched up dates in China and India, too, but its arrival at this week's international airshow at Avalon is an Australian first. 

Ms Hughes, 24, is joined by Sarah Tanner, 30, and Freya Paterson, 28, and together they spin through the sky, making all other extreme pursuits look like a quiet night in.

But the greatest test of endurance for these girls is, perhaps, not the G-force loops and high dives, but the constant requests from fumbling men for photographs.

Don't try this at home. Aaron reluctantly cuts a dashing figure against the sky. Picture: Alex Coppel

This week they will be flashing their pearly whites more than an Emirates employee. 

"Why would you be an air hostess when you could be a wing walker?" said one.

"It's far more exhilarating and, besides, we're too short." 

The Australian International Airshow opens today until March 3.

Website: airshow.com.au

View the original article here

What it's like to walk on a plane's wing

The Herald Sun’s Aaron Langmaid completes a wingwalk with the Breitling Wingwalkers ahead of the Avalon Airshow

BUDGET airlines have never been more extreme. No in-flight meal. No baggage allowance. Just standing room and an attendant to strap you in.

Good thing there are fewer corners cut when it came to the safety briefing for this wing-walk experience.

Release your buckle at altitude, comes the advice, and this little joy ride won't end so well. Roger that.

"Do not undo your belt when you're up there," air angel Danielle Hughes points out. "If there is a problem during the flight, just stay calm. The plane should just glide back to the tarmac."

Aaron in full flight. Picture: Alex Coppel

It is an extreme scenario, she admits, but one that prompts a quick prayer. As the former World War II training plane clunked on to a tarmac normally reserved for airbuses, this reporter briefly dials in again to the good Lord.

What followed - a display of flailing arms and the occasional yelp - was far from what crowds have come to expect from the Breitling Wingwalkers.

Based in England, the tight-knit group of pilots and aero-acrobats wow spectators from Manchester to Munich as summer airshows are hosted around Europe.

Up, up and away. The Breitling crew get Aaron in an aviation mood before take-off. Picture: Alex Coppel

The team has notched up dates in China and India, too, but its arrival at this week's international airshow at Avalon is an Australian first. 

Ms Hughes, 24, is joined by Sarah Tanner, 30, and Freya Paterson, 28, and together they spin through the sky, making all other extreme pursuits look like a quiet night in.

But the greatest test of endurance for these girls is, perhaps, not the G-force loops and high dives, but the constant requests from fumbling men for photographs.

Don't try this at home. Aaron reluctantly cuts a dashing figure against the sky. Picture: Alex Coppel

This week they will be flashing their pearly whites more than an Emirates employee. 

"Why would you be an air hostess when you could be a wing walker?" said one.

"It's far more exhilarating and, besides, we're too short." 

The Australian International Airshow opens today until March 3.

Website: airshow.com.au

View the original article here