Virgin Australia reveals new onboard menus, announces fare review

New onboard menus have been introduced on all Virgin Australia flights to give customers more choice and better value, according to the airline.

The highly-anticipated business-class menu launch heralds a new era of flying for the recently relaunched Virgin, with simple, modern, fresh and contemporary dishes, made using locally-sourced Australian produce, now being served at 38,000 feet.

Dishes include a range of hot meals, healthy salads and Australian classics, served on tableware, including crockery, glassware and cutlery.

Virgin’s new business-class menu will rotate on a bi-monthly basis and comes with all-inclusive premium Australian wine and beer, plus soft beverages and spirits.

Sarah Adam, general manager of product and customer at Virgin, said the new business-class menu had been designed with altitude in mind.

“It’s well-known that when you’re high above the clouds, you lose some sense of taste and smell, so this was a really important factor in designing the new menu so our food not only looks great, but tastes great in the air,” she said.

“We’ve really dialled-up the flavours in the food with the right seasoning and textures to provide a very competitive business-class experience for domestic travel in Australia.

“Supporting Australian farmers and producers was another important factor in designing the menu, so we’ll have seasonal Australian produce from local producers in dishes throughout the year.”

The airline’s new business-class experience also triggered a training refresh for Virgin cabin crew, with new hospitality standards that focus on customer engagement allowing more time in the cabin with guests.

Virgin said its new economy buy-onboard menu is designed to give travellers greater value by taking the previously included snack out of the ticket price.

Initially, the economy menu will feature the most popular snack and beverage items, including cheese and crackers and Australian wine.

Virgin plans to introduce a greater range of menu items later in the year when travel demand is expected to resume to near pre-COVID levels.

Virgin CEO and managing director Jayne Hrdlicka said today’s customers are more conscious about what they consume than ever before.

“We like to choose what we eat and what we drink throughout the day – we are simply extending that choice onboard as well,” she said.

“By removing snacks that aren’t valued by our guests, we’re able to structurally reduce airfares making it even cheaper to fly.

“We’ll continue to offer complimentary tea, coffee and water on all flights and the opportunity for guests to purchase their favourite menu items at a reasonable price,” she said.

Following a reduction in the price of business-class fares of up to 20 per cent last November in comparison with pre-COVID-19 prices, Virgin has also announced it will undertake a further review of its business and economy fare brands.

According to the airline, the new fare brands will deliver better value for travellers, provide more flexibility and choice when compared to travelling prior to COVID-19.