The Lufthansa Group is introducing chargeable drinks and snacks for its flight operations Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Lufthansa on short and medium-haul flights up to a travel time of 180 minutes from spring 2021.

The changeover will initially be carried out at Austrian Airlines, where it is in contrast to the other two group members will not give free water. In a total of three media broadcasts, the group emphasizes that it wants to increase quality by switching to paid catering.

Specifically, this means that passengers traveling in economy class will have to pay for drinks and snacks in the future. At Swiss and Lufthansa, however, there will still be free water. Austrian Airlines does not even allow that. Business class and charter flights are not affected by the measures.

“Nowadays, our guests want to make their travel experience more individual, the previous catering options on board often no longer meet their expectations,” says Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer of Swiss. “In Geneva, with SWISS Saveurs, we are already offering our guests the opportunity to choose their preferred snacks and drinks individually. We have received very good feedback from our guests on the high-quality SWISS Saveurs offer and will therefore extend this to flights from Zurich in the future. "

In the future, Swiss will continue to offer a small piece of chocolate in addition to a free water bottle. But that's about it, because if you want more, you have to unpack your wallet. A partner for the paid catering product has not yet been determined. This will only be presented in the next few months. With regard to the planned offer, Swiss emphasizes that “regional and fresh products” will be offered for sale.

Paid catering will initially start with Austrian Airlines, then with Swiss and Lufthansa. “Our previous range of snacks in Economy Class often does not meet the expectations of our guests,” explains Christina Foerster, Executive Vice President Lufthansa Group Customer, IT & Corporate Responsibility. “The new offer was developed on the basis of our customer feedback. With the high-quality offer, which is subject to a fee, our passengers will be able to individually decide what they want to eat and drink on their trip. ”The crane did not provide any details on the planned menu, but emphasized that it would be“ regional dishes ” and the previous inclusive catering will be discontinued.