Emirates wins best airline food award

The best food in the sky is to be found on Emirates, with Australian airlines nowhere to be seen in the top ten.

However, the list does contain airlines familiar in our skies: Emirates, Singapore, Qatar, Malaysia, Thai and Etihad are all in the top ten.

The absence of Qantas and Virgin Blue in the list emphasises why Australian airlines are bringing in celebrity chefs to help out in the kitchen.

Australian Business Traveller reported yesterday that Luke Mangan will increase his role overseeing food at Virgin Blue as part of CEO John Borghetti's "new Blue" rebranding process.

Qantas' consultant chef Neil Perry -- who we interviewed about his work with Qantas -- has to be frustrated after missing out on the top-ten list, though.

Virgin Blue's partner airline Etihad placed eighth in the world, so passengers connecting on from V Australia through Etihad's Abu Dhabi hub can look forward to the meal on their onward flight.

Over at Etihad's neighbour Emirates, VP for Inflight Catering Robin Padgett gave a clue to why his airline came out on top: "Emirates is passionate about providing great in-flight cuisine and we see it as a crucial part of our product offering."

The full list of the top ten airlines -- many of which fly to Australia -- is:

Emirates
Lufthansa
Singapore
Aeroflot
Qatar
Malaysia
Thai
Etihad
KLM
Air France

Business travellers should take note that the top ten list has been produced based on passengers' opinions, as we discovered after delving into the survey report, produced by flight comparison site Skyscanner.

As a result, the results will be slanted towards economy class meals, where Emirates' offering is remarkably strong.

We weren't entirely overwhelmed by Emirates' food on our business class trans-Tasman flight last December, although the food in Emirates' Auckland lounge was outstanding.

The biggest surprise on the list is Russian airline Aeroflot in fourth place, long infamous among frequent flyers for its dreadful food and worse service.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.