Brent Pinheiro
brent.pinheiro@guardian.co.tt
In an industry notorious for cutting costs and charging economy passengers for every additional service, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is taking a different approach. The local carrier is quietly reintroducing free hot meals to the economy cabin on a phased basis, after removing the service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of April 15th, Guardian Media understands a hot breakfast, lunch, or dinner meal is now being served onboard depending on the flight timing. For now, meals are only being served on select flights originating out of Port of Spain, Trinidad (POS) including the New York (JFK), Miami (MIA), Toronto (YYZ), and Orlando (MCO) services but will be rolled out to select services departing from other destinations at a later date.
On April 15th CAL also upgraded the meal service on its Jamaica (KIN)-Port of Spain (POS) route from a pre-packaged snack bag to a sandwich offering. The POS-KIN route’s meal service will be upgraded to the sandwich option from April 24th. In a decision taken by CAL, the onboard changes are meant to provide customers with “more substantial meals, that would better serve their needs at this time.” The airline’s paid pre-order meal service, which it introduced two years ago, and Caribbean Cafe – the buy-on-board service – remain available.
Like many full-service airlines, CAL suspended its hot meal service during the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to protect customers and crews. Meals were replaced with sandwiches/prepackaged snack bags to reduce contact points. Post-pandemic international travel has now rebounded to almost 2019 levels with CAL carrying two million passengers in 2023, and the airline is seeking to both attract new flyers and maintain its current customer base.
The decision to re-introduce hot meals is the latest in a slew of changes aimed at improving the passenger experience at various customer touchpoints. Over the past few months, CAL has introduced re-designed boarding passes, upgraded cabin interiors on some of its older aircraft, and unveiled new uniforms for customer-facing staff. The airline expects to launch several new Caribbean routes this year, as well as induct new aircraft into its fleet.
