DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Inflight Catering Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Inflight Catering Market is projected to register a CAGR of more than 5.7% during the forecast period (2021-2026).
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a full-scale crisis with the imposition of travel restrictions and suspension of flights in a global effort to contain the spread of the virus. The aviation industry is in survival mode, crippled by the loss of traffic and revenues.
According to the latest updates from IATA, ICAO, the Airports Council International (ACI), the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the international air passenger traffic in 2020 is expected to experience a drop of about 50-55% as compared to 2020 baseline.
Airline Revenue-Per-Kilometer (RPK) is anticipated to drop by 48% compared to 2019 value. The airlines are expected to record potential losses amounting to USD 289 million to 387 billion in gross operating revenues. Europe and Asia-Pacific are anticipated to be the worst hit in terms of international passenger traffic and revenues.
Though food practices have always been the priority of the caterers, the pandemic has brought a new dynamic and essential safety protocols to professional commercial kitchens as the old protocols were designed for fending off foodborne illnesses only. The pandemic is also responsible for elevating catering standards in food safety, cleaning, and sanitizing, but resulting in inflight caterers incurring additional expenses to ensure the optimized standards. Also, with the competition among the airlines increasing, they are opting for certain strategies that aim to enhance the inflight dining experience. These strategies range from the process of ordering to food serving. Such developments will have a long-term effect on the prospects of the market in focus during the forecast period.
Key Market Trends
Competition in the Industry to Enhance the Inflight Dining Experience
With the competition among the airlines increasing, they are opting for certain strategies that aim to enhance the inflight dining experience. These strategies range from the process of ordering to food serving. Additionally, to comply with hybrid operational scenarios while providing service to the customers, airlines are using different service strategies on different classes on the same flight. For instance, while providing high-level services at a premium price to high-value customers (in business and first-class), airlines are also offering lower price alternatives to passengers in economy class, thereby, establishing tier-based complimentary on-board services. To make the process of ordering the food easier for the passengers, airlines are providing options like meal pre-selection, meal pre-order, and mixed buy-on-board/complimentary catering to the passengers.
Asia-Pacific to Dominate Market Share During the Forecast Period
Asia-Pacific is a vast inflight catering market in terms of culinary habits, and passengers from different regions vary in their culinary preferences. Though India and China are neighboring countries, the culinary food habits of people in these two countries are significantly different. Food habits of passengers from the north vary from those of the south in the same country. These variations are likely to help the catering suppliers invest more in these diversified menu types, thereby leading to the high growth of the region during the forecast period. As per IATA, during 2019, the airlines operating in India witnessed a 5.1% YoY growth in air passenger traffic, indicating a relative slowdown from its 2018 growth statistics of 18.9% on account of several factors, including the bankruptcy of Jet Airways and weakening economic activity. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected the aviation sector in the country with air passenger traffic shrinking by 65% on average during 2020.
Competitive Landscape
Five major players dominate the market for inflight catering. However, when it comes to supplying from small and medium-size airports, the market is fairly fragmented with the presence of regional players. Demand for food with high quality and safety was the main reason for airlines to prefer catering from major manufacturers to the regional players. Further, these big players have increased their R&D spending exponentially to integrate innovation with culinary excellence. This has resulted in premium quality food for airline inflight catering. Gate Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs, and SATS are some of the leading companies in the inflight catering market.
Key Topics Covered:
1 INTRODUCTION
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4 MARKET DYNAMICS
5 MARKET SEGMENTATION (Market Size by Value - USD billion)
6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS
Companies Mentioned
- Gate Gourmet
- LSG Sky Chefs
- Sats Ltd.
- Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Ltd.
- Dnata
- Flying Food Group
- Emirates Flight Catering
- IGS Ground Services
- Jetfinity
- Newrest International Group S.A.S
- Journey Group Plc.
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