Airline Now Selling Its Meals in Supermarkets

Finnair says it wants to keep its catering staff employed—and bring a taste of air travel to hungry Finns stuck at home because of the pandemic. The airline says it's planning to sell business-class meals in supermarkets, and the choices will be more exciting than "beef or chicken," Deutsche Welle reports. The airline says the meals, which will be sold for around $12, will feature Nordic-Japanese fusion cuisine, with dishes including Arctic char and reindeer meatballs. With around 60% of Finns now working from home, "we want to offer the opportunity for a Finnair experience and everyday luxury at home, now that travel has been restricted in many ways," says Finnair Kitchen Vice President Marika Nieminen.

Nieminen says the experiment also keeps chefs employed at a time when many other Finnair Kitchen employees have already been laid off. "We can now create new work and employment for our people," she says. The first place to sell the airline meals will be the K-Citymarket Tammisto supermarket near Helsinki Airport, though the airline hopes to roll the meals out to other retailers soon, the AP reports. "I think everyone has a bit of wanderlust these days, and we can now satisfy that need a bit," says store manager Kimmo Sivonen. He says the dishes have been slightly modified from the in-flight versions, which have extra salt and spices to offset the dulling of taste buds that occurs during flights. (More airline food stories.)