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Bryce Evans's book, "Food and Aviation in the Twentieth Century: The Pan American Ideal," explores the history of inflight food and catering within Pan American World Airways. The book provides a chronological narrative of the development of inflight food from the 1930s to the end of the airline in 1991. It also delves into topics such as the scientific innovations behind inflight dining, Pan American's efforts to maintain a premium culinary experience, the crew's perspective on airline food, and the incorporation of foreign cuisine. The book uses primary sources, including the Pan American archives and interviews with crew members, to provide a comprehensive study of the topic. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: Why and when does team mindfulness help to reduce team relationship conflict? To answer this question, we develop and test a theoretical model that builds on Deutsch's theory of cooperation and competition. A two‐wave time‐lagged survey was conducted with 68 teams in an airline food service company located in China. The results showed that team mindfulness was negatively related to team relationship conflict via an increased cooperative conflict approach and a decreased competitive conflict approach. Further, high team job demands were shown to weaken the positive direct effect of team mindfulness on a cooperative conflict approach, as well as the indirect effect of team mindfulness on team relationship conflict via a cooperative approach. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important airline services that can influence the passengers' loyalty is the in-flight meal service. In this study, the conceptual design process of new in-flight food delivery and waste collection system is carried out using the standard engineering design method to improve the current system. A critical step in this process is the design concept evaluation and selection where the best alternative design concept solution is chosen for further development. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is applied to facilitate the selection process of the best design concept for the new improved in-flight food delivery and waste collection system. The design evaluation criteria for the TOPSIS assessment procedures are taken from previous work done on design requirements analysis for the new in-flight food delivery and waste collection system. Similarly, five alternative design concepts for the new system are taken from the results of the previous research work done. Furthermore, an online public survey is conducted to acquire the assessment rating of all alternative design concepts for each design evaluation criterion. The assessment rating is assigned using a simple Likert rating scale. From the resultant TOPSIS ranking, Concept 3 has emerged as the best design concept with a closeness rating of 0.9589, which is very close to 1. For future research work, this selected final design concept for the new in-flight food delivery and waste collection system will be forwarded to the next engineering design stage for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem definition: A major task in retail operations is to optimize the assortments exhibited to consumers. To this end, retailers need to understand customers' preferences for different products. Academic/practical relevance: This is particularly challenging when only sales and product-availability data are recorded, and not all products are displayed in all periods. Similarly, in revenue management contexts, firms (airlines, hotels, etc.) need to understand customers' preferences for different options in order to optimize the menu of products to offer. Methodology: In this paper, we study the estimation of preferences under a multinomial logit model of demand when customers arrive over time in accordance with a nonhomogeneous Poisson process. This model has recently caught important attention in both academic and industrial practices. We formulate the problem as a maximum-likelihood estimation problem, which turns out to be nonconvex. Results: Our contribution is twofold: From a theoretical perspective, we characterize conditions under which the maximum-likelihood estimates are unique and the model is identifiable. From a practical perspective, we propose a minorization-maximization (MM) algorithm to ease the optimization of the likelihood function. Through an extensive numerical study, we show that our algorithm leads to better estimates in a noticeably short computational time compared with state-of-the-art benchmarks. Managerial implications: The theoretical results provide a solid foundation for the use of the model in terms of the quality of the derived estimates. At the same time, the fast MM algorithm allows the implementation of the model and the estimation procedure at large scale, compatible with real industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of airline food and beverage (F&B) performances, and how it affects full-service airline passengers' loyalty generation processes. The roles of passengers' cognitive and affective appraisals of flight experiences were considered, as well as the moderating role in-flight physical environment. 302 U.S. airline passengers were sampled and results from a structural equation modeling showed that the intricate interrelationships of airline F&B performances, cognitive appraisal of flight experiences, and affective appraisal of flight experiences were significantly supported. Moreover, a metric invariance test identified that in-flight physical environment played a significant moderating role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study examined the airline food quality (core, external, and delivery) and its role. • Airline food quality included core, external, and delivery dimensions. • An integrative conceptual framework that sufficiently accounts for passenger re-flying intention was developed. • Passenger attached to in-flight food and beverage played a significant moderating role. Quality of in-flight food and beverage is undoubtedly one of the most important requisites for passengers' pleasurable flight experiences in the full-service airline industry. Nonetheless, little is known about its role in forming re-flying intention. The present research successfully addressed this omission by uncovering the positive relationships among multiple quality factors of in-flight food and beverage (core, external, and delivery), price reasonableness, airline image, satisfaction, and re-flying intention in an empirical manner. Specifically, our findings verified the effectiveness of the higher-order structure of in-flight food and beverage quality that significantly enhances passengers' perceived reasonableness of price, airline image, and satisfaction in their re-flying decision-making process. Our empirical result also identified the mediating impact of price, image, and satisfaction. Moreover, the result of the metric-invariance test demonstrated the significant moderating impact of passenger attachment to in-flight food and beverage on re-flying intention formation. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article employs in-flight catering as an inroad for rethinking aeromobility—and other mobilities—as both a vehicle and a product of logistics. It posits that the production of airline food, or in-flight catering, is representative of how aeromobility as a whole is realised through particular technocratic processes of fragmentation and coordination. Drawing on existing literatures, international news reports, company publications and participant observation at an in-flight catering kitchen, this article examines the globalised coordinative practices, uneven spatial expressions, and exploitative labour regimes that logistically shape in-flight catering and, by extension, air transport. It argues for a more nuanced understanding of supply chain capitalism that does not simply focus on the overt circulation of goods, but also on the production of mobilities as logistical orders. Doing so exposes logistics’ pervasive reach even in the ancillary functions of the global economy, allowing for its injustices and exclusions to be charted more fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the performance of the two core classifications of airline ancillary revenues, which are unbundled products and commission based income. It also investigates the willingness of passengers to pay (WTP) for these services together with what type of ancillary items are acceptable at a particular price point. The study found that passengers value a narrow range of perceived ‘necessity’ products and services such as food and drink, checked baggage and seat assignment as opposed to perceived ‘optional’ unbundled or commission based products/services. It also found significant differences in WTP for specific ancillary services based on carrier type (FSC/LCC/Charter), length of flight (long and short haul) and journey purpose (business, leisure, VFR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airlines increasingly rely on ancillary service fees for revenue generation. As a result, many ancillary services have been conceived and implemented. However, each customer does not desire to purchase every ancillary service. This research examines the heterogeneity among U.S. international airline passengers and their willingness to pay for assorted ancillary services. Antecedents to purchase intention and actual purchase behavior were evaluated using Amazon Mechanical Turk for data collection. Our results show that there are differences in airline passenger preferences when purchasing ancillary services on international flights. The number of times a passenger flies in a year and the reason for travel are found to be consistently significant. Occasionally, age and income are found to be significant. These findings will be very useful to airline marketing executives and could help to assure consumers receive the services they want at the price levels they are willing to pay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airlines are currently striving to improve the quality and quantity of in-flight food, because research has shown that catering is a key attribute for a customer's satisfaction with airline service quality. But the role of an airline's service environment in forming customer perceptions about food quality has not yet been properly investigated. Using electronic word-of-mouth data from N = 3996 airline passengers, this study deploys a linear regression model at multiple levels to relate perceived in-flight food quality with both the overall service environment and its formative components. The results clearly unveil the importance of an aircraft's service environment on perceived in-flight catering quality; perceptions of food quality are primarily influenced by the quality of cabin staff service, followed by entertainment and seat quality. Instead of continuing with the current practice of signing up top chefs to improve menus, airlines may instead consider putting their management focus on service improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Turbulent atmosphere, gusts, and manoeuvres significantly excite aircraft rigid body motions and structural vibrations, which leads to reduced ride comfort and increased structural loads. In particular BWB (Blended Wing Body) aircraft configurations, while promising a significant fuel efficiency improvement compared to wing-tube configurations, exhibit severe sensitivity to gusts. In general, a flexible aircraft represents a lightly damped structure involving a large variety of uncertainties due to fuel mass variations during flight, control system nonlinearities, aerodynamic nonlinearities, and structural nonlinearities, to name just a few. Especially at the beginning of flight testing of a newly developed aircraft type, plant models generally require a lot of verification and adjustment based on obtained flight test data, before they can be used reliably for control law design. Adaptive control already is a well-established method for many active noise and vibration control problems, and thus is proposed here for application to the problem of gust load alleviation. However, safety requirements are significantly higher for gust load alleviation systems than for most noise and vibration control systems. This paper proposes a MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) adaptive feed-forward controller for the alleviation of turbulence-induced rigid body motions and structural vibrations on aircraft. The major contribution to the research field of active noise and vibration control is the presentation of a detailed stability analysis of the MIMO adaptive algorithm in order to support potential certification of this method for a safety-critical application. Finally, the proposed MIMO adaptive feed-forward vibration controller is applied to a longitudinal flight dynamics model of a large flexible BWB airliner in order to verify the derived vibration controller on a challenging control problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Carriers the world over depend on airline catering service providers to manage the catering and logistics of these complex operations. The logistics of onboard catering service material between suppliers, warehouses and the caterers differ significantly from the classical material flow in other industries between the suppliers, manufacturers and customers. The airline catering business can tolerate minimal flexibility relating to scheduling issues. Continuous changes in the schedule can undermine the confidence in the system and result in disruptions in the production or delivery systems. This study aims to study how the various determinants are correlated with schedule instability of the airline catering operations. The findings show the significant correlation between internal operation and relationship with customer, which affect the work efficacy at the collective level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about customer satisfaction and service quality in the hospitality and tourism industry is hardly visible in the academic literature, mainly due to the proprietary nature of the data. Similar information in the airline industry literature is even less visible, even though policies change. One of the most recent policies in the airline industry is the pay for in-flight foods, and drinks. This article offers information about the policy, and empirically examines its impact on travelers' experience. A sample of 217 cases was used for the analysis. Randomly selected travelers were queried about their experience with paying for in-flight food and drinks and related issues, such as intention to pay, pay arrangement, and desired mode of payment. Generally, most travelers did not support the policy, and those who have had the experience found it cumbersome. On the other hand, overall quality on board, including food and service, was perceived rather positive. Subsequent recommendations for airline companies were offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the nutritive value of food served by Libyan airlines in comparison with recommended dietary allowances (RDA). The study, using food samples collected from the catering department of Benina International Airport in Benghazi, reveals that foods served for breakfast, lunch and snacks have higher amounts of energy, carbohydrates, saturated fat and sodium. However, it denotes that the micronutrient content of the food samples did not meet the RDA.

This paper presents and analyses a set of short case studies of meal service experiences during journeys by air. It focuses on two situations in which passengers experienced dissatisfaction with their meal, and investigates the ensuing responses of airline staff to their difficulties. A methodology was developed to assist airline managers in understanding the customers' perceptions of their experiences of the service aspects of meal. delivery. The theoretical grounding of the consumerist gap concept and the method of analysis are briefly described. The model forms the basis for a comparison of passenger experiences, which distinguishes effective responses to meal service problem situations from those which exacerbate the dissatisfaction customers initially experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the logistical and cost implications of incorporating unusual menu, such as kosher meals, into the logistical system required to support inflight food service. Details of the increased demand for kusher products; Importance of efficiency on inflight food services; Process of producing and serving conventional meals in board aircraft; Factors that inhibit the production of kosher meals onsite in an inflight kitchen; Discussion on important factors in preparing kosher meals.

Provides information on the different issues concerning inflight catering. Evaluation of consumer preferences and consumer satisfaction; Services given by low-cost carriers; Importance of logistics management to the flight catering business; Food safety and environmental concerns raised by the International Flight Catering Association.

Assesses the onboard services provided by airline companies. Evaluation of food and loading services given by airline operators; Problems facing airlines concerning flight logistics; Application of the information technology-based supply chain management system.