- Virgin Australia has unveiled its brand-new Business Class menu alongside 12 new additions to the airline's Economy Class buy onboard menu, marking one of the biggest investments in its onboard food and beverage menu in five years.
- Highlights of the new Business Class menu include a range of modern dishes inspired by Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Italian and western cuisine, providing a variety for different tastes.
- Curated and taste tested by Virgin Australia Cabin Crew and Velocity Frequent Flyer members, the new menu is now available on all Virgin Australia-operated domestic and international flights*.
- Virgin Australia has also revealed the most popular onboard snack, with the flying-favourite cheese and crackers taking out the top spot with more than 50,000 packets served each month (2024 year to date average).
- As part of Virgin Australia's $300+ million digital investment, the airline has also introduced digital wallets, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, allowing customers to conveniently pay for menu items on their mobile device mid-flight.
- Today's new menu announcement forms part of Virgin Australia's continued investment in the customer experience, following a series of new innovations including its Australian airline-first baggage tracking technology and self-service disrupt management tool, Rapid Rebook.
Tuesday 4 June 2024: Virgin Australia has revealed a new onboard food and beverage offering, including a refreshed Business Class menu and 12 additions to the airline's Economy buy onboard menu, marking one of the biggest investments in its menu offering in five years.
The new Business Class menu, which has been carefully curated and taste tested by the airline's Cabin Crew and some of Velocity Frequent Flyer's most travelled members, is available from today*.
Made from locally sourced Australian produce, the menu features popular dishes from a host of global origins, including modern Japanese, Indian, Mexican, Italian and western dishes, ensuring there is a range of options to suit varying tastes.
All menu selections in Business Class will have vegetarian options, including some vegan and low gluten dishes, with the Economy menu featuring 15 vegetarian and vegan options, as well as three gluten-free choices. Guests of Virgin Australia's extra leg room seats, Economy X, will also have access to the airline's new buy onboard Economy menu.
Virgin Australia's new Business Class menu highlights:
- Corn fritters with goat cheese and capsicum relish
- Cheese and chive crumpet with bacon, scrambled eggs and beans
- Pumpkin gnocchi, creamy pesto with optional chorizo
- Soba noodle salad with chicken and teriyaki dressing
- Cheese tortellini Caesar salad with optional prosciutto
- Sweet pork belly with rice and vegetables
- Goat cheese with apricot and sumac amuse bouche
- Mango coconut cake
- White chocolate and macadamia cake
Economy menu offers more choice than ever
Virgin Australia has also unveiled its biggest selection yet of new Economy buy onboard menu items, providing greater variety, as well as a selection of value items for flyers wanting to snack mid-flight.
Featuring among the new menu items is the introduction of artisan mature-aged cheese and crackers, with Virgin Australia revealing that more than 50,000 packets of cheese and crackers are sold each month (2024 year to date average), making it the most popular menu item purchased on Virgin Australia flights.
More substantial items available for purchase include ham and cheese sourdough toasties, chicken and sun-dried tomato pesto wraps, and chicken salad sourdough sandwiches. For those with a sweet tooth, the airline has also added Pascall Jet Plane lollies to the menu.
Economy Class customers on longer routes to and from Perth or on select international flights will also be able to indulge in hot dishes, including pesto pasta and Penang chicken curry, curated by The St. Food Co.
As part of the Economy experience, guests will continue to receive complimentary tea, coffee and water. Virgin Australia has also introduced a new Grinders coffee blend and a new range of tea from Australian-owned, organic and fair-trade tea brand, Love Tea.
Digital wallet payments now available sky-high
Virgin Australia has also made it easier for customers to purchase from the Economy menu, with the convenient introduction of digital wallet payments including Apple Pay and Google Pay, meaning physical bank cards are no longer needed when purchasing food and beverage onboard.
The tech enhancement is part of Virgin Australia's $300 million digital investment which has seen the airline introduce an Australian-first baggage tracking tool across domestic and international flights, Rapid Rebook, app upgrades and digital personalisation.
Commentary
Virgin Australia Chief Customer and Digital Officer, Paul Jones said customers will have more choice next time they fly with Virgin Australia as part of a significant investment in the onboard experience.
"We are proud to continue evolving our food and beverage offering and today's announcement represents one of the biggest investments in our onboard menu in the last five years, which is a testament to our focus on making the Virgin Australia travel journey wonderful," said Mr Jones.
"We have also made it easier than ever for guests to pay for their inflight food and beverage when seated in Economy thanks to the introduction of digital wallets and Apple Pay which aligns to the world's changing banking needs and our customer's preference to pay using smart phone technology.
"Today's announcement follows recent customer experience investments, including the roll-out of our industry-first baggage tracking technology, a $110 million fleet-wide upgrade and more," he said.
