Flying visits

The quality and choice of food and beverage within airports has improved dramatically in recent years.

This evolution has been driven by passengers wanting more choice, quality and diverse culinary experiences, and by airports responding with innovative solutions:

Local cuisine and cultural immersion
Many airports have embraced their unique geographical locations by incorporating local flavours and specialities. This provides passengers with an authentic taste of the region they are visiting. This can include everything from regional specialties to dishes made with locally sourced ingredients.

In addition to the local cuisine, passengers can also enjoy the ambience and decor that reflects the culture of a specific region or country through a sense of place and design of F&B units. This immersion adds a layer of authenticity and excitement to the dining experience.

Some examples include the Koh Hop Bar in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Thailand, which provides Thai food with an authentic culinary experience. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport offers Creole and Cajun dishes while Warsaw Airport offers Pierogis, a traditional Polish dumpling typically filled with ingredients like potato, cheese, and meat.

Health and sustainability
Many airports are now focusing on healthy and sustainable F&B practices in response to the growing demand for plant-based foods. This includes using locally sourced ingredients, reducing food waste, and using recyclable and compostable packaging. Airports are also offering a wider variety of healthy meals and snacks, such as salads, wraps, and fresh fruit.  For example, Evergreen Organics at Hamad international Airport is the first 100% vegan cafe in Qatar aimed at promoting sustainable and healthy lifestyles.

Food halls
Airport passengers wanting convenient and affordable meals often use fast food as well as fast casual restaurants, and food halls have become an increasingly popular way of offering a choice of these type of operators. 

Airports are making use of food halls to provide several fast food and fast casual restaurants in one area to provide a more diverse range of offers to appeal to passengers, with recent openings of food courts in Helsinki Airport (seen above), Dublin Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport.

Integration of F&B and retail
Conventional duty free retailers are progressively expanding their scope by incorporating F&B elements, resulting in the emergence of innovative concepts that combine both F&B and retail within the same premises.

This strategy offers the advantage of attracting more visitors and increasing the time spent in retail zones, effectively merging shopping objectives and customer preferences to boost conversion rates and raise the average transaction value.

Some key examples are The Gallery in Barcelona airport by Lagardere Travel Retail and All Yours run by Smartseller (JV between Heinemann and Casual Food) in Ljubljana Airport and Münster Osnabrück Airport. Another key player within market is the newly branded Avolta (Previously Dufry-Autogrill) aiming to capitalise on their travel retail and F&B experience to provide passengers with a "Travel Experience Revolution" as per their Destination 2027 strategy.

The evolution of F&B offerings in airports reflects changing passenger expectations and demands. Airports have recognised the importance of providing diverse and quality dining experiences, going beyond mere sustenance. Whether it's embracing local flavours, healthy sustainable food, or food halls with a range of different offers.

Airports that can adapt to these trends and meet the needs of the changing market will be the ones to thrive in the coming years.

Mohamed Hisham