Introduction
Think airline meals get thrown together the morning of your flight?
Air Dolomiti’s meal development process takes a whole month, from concept to tray, with exact protein weights, garnish specifications, and taste tests that rival those of cooking competition shows.
Here’s what actually happens in airline kitchens.
The Month Long Process
What I expected to be a quick kitchen tour at Frankfurt Airport turned into a deep dive into airline catering logistics.
Air Dolomiti creates business class meals for their 2.5 million annual passengers, working with GIC International Catering about a month before new meals appear onboard.
Every dish must match exact photos and specifications, covering everything from protein weight to garnish amounts.
This lets the airline audit their caterer anytime – basically quality control through contracts, ensuring passengers get consistent experiences rather than whatever the kitchen feels like serving.
Inside the Tasting Process
The airline kitchen operation felt surprisingly like a cooking competition show.
Airline staff sample multiple dishes while considering factors like time of day, passenger demographics, and whether people will actually enjoy eating it at altitude.
The elimination process is methodical:
Does this work for a breakfast flight?
Will business travellers appreciate this flavour profile?
Can cabin crew explain what’s in it?
Dishes that survive this scrutiny make it onto the menu.
Business Class: Italian Authenticity
Air Dolomiti rotates four dishes weekly for each meal type, preventing frequent flyers from facing repetitive options.
Their summer and winter menus reflect the seasonal availability and preferences of passengers.
The Italian focus runs deep.
Only Italian wines are served, with selections changing quarterly, featuring approximately 2,500 bottles of each variety per quarter.
They’ve installed proper espresso machines for authentic Italian coffee service, which gets good passenger feedback.
Illy coffee, carefully selected regional wines, and prosecco create a proper Italian experience rather than generic premium service.
Economy Gets Chef Treatment Too
Even economy passengers buying from the SpazioItaliaBar menu get thoughtfully prepared options.
Air Dolomiti collaborates with chefs from the JRE (Jeunes Restaurateurs) association, who propose sandwiches and salads that go through the same rigorous selection process as business class meals.
Working with chefs makes their buy-on-board food better than typical airline convenience food, maintaining Italian culinary standards.
The Hidden Constraints
Airline food preparation has constraints that normal restaurants don’t deal with.
Limited onboard equipment restricts cooking methods, while catering teams must accommodate diverse cultural, religious, and dietary requirements.
Plus, there’s the challenge of sourcing fresh ingredients for flights departing from various airports.
What impressed me most was the precision required.
Every element must be reproducible, properly weighted, and able to survive the journey from kitchen to plane, sitting in trolleys, and temperature changes without losing texture or flavour.
Conclusion
The airline meal creation process involves more planning than most passengers realise. Every dish represents weeks of development, testing, and refinement before reaching your tray.
What surprised me most was the genuine care taken over economy class options.
Rather than treating buy-on-board as pure revenue generation, they maintain culinary standards that reflect their Italian heritage.
Airline catering involves compromises, but Air Dolomiti’s process shows how thoughtful planning can deliver authentic experiences.
The month-long development timeline ensures proper testing, while contractual specifications prevent quality drift over time.
For travellers on Air Dolomiti, this explains why their Italian focus feels genuine rather than superficial.
Understanding the process makes you appreciate the complexity behind even simple inflight dining.
