Airlines revamp in-flight menus in a bid to attract passengers

Airlines revamp in-flight menus in a bid to attract passengers

2023-01-10

Taiwan’s state-owned airline, China Airlines is revamping its in-flight menus in routes to Japan in an attempt to attract fliers. The airline has teamed up with a renowned restaurant in Tokyo to produce a delicately-curated multi-course meal. And it’s not the only airline expanding its offerings. Tigerair Taiwan is now serving up more vegetarian options than before, while Starlux gets flight attendants to make you a sweet cup of bubble tea high in the sky.

Slices of Japanese black beef sizzle on the pan, while a chef meticulously portions a piece of crispy duck breast. Appetizing is the word.

Magatama tofu is made following a highly complex process. Kaiseki, a kind of Japanese haute cuisine, is coming to China Airlines’ in-flight menu.

Jenny Tsao
China Airlines
With the post-pandemic recovery, we want to offer our passengers a different kind of experience when travelling to Japan. The dishes change with the four seasons. These are all part of the “Early Spring Imperial Feast” menu.

Business class passengers on flights to Japan can enjoy this completely new in-flight dining experience. To make it possible, the foods are cooled rapidly to preserve the best texture, which is a big challenge.

Arthur Wang
Dining group head
The development of these dishes took about half a year from the moment we got into contact to a completed product. Each dish could easily take more than two weeks, and four or five failed attempts.
Lee Ming-che
China Pacific Catering Services
The meat isn’t overcooked. Just grilled a little bit.

After COVID, airlines are opening up new flight routes and attracting fliers with tasty meals.

Last year, EVA Air added flights to Milan in Italy, and Munich in Germany, with specially designed meals featuring beef cheek stew and coral grouper.

If you’re vegetarian, Tigerair Taiwan has added more veggie-only options to its food offerings.

And if you have a sweet tooth, Starlux flight attendants can make you a bubble tea high up in the sky. With the launch of its new A350 planes, the company is offering a taste of Taiwan above the clouds. It seems that after the pandemic travelers are not just hungry for new experiences but also good cuisine.

航空業合作東京名店推特色懷石料理飛機餐

2023-01-10

疫後航空業拚商機，紛紛推出特色飛機餐，像是華航就和東京名店合作，將日式料理搬上空，黑毛和牛照燒和勾玉豆腐，搭日本航線商務艙吃得到，另外星宇今年也推珍奶，旅客可以在機上喝到台灣味，虎航則照顧素食者，也推出蔬食餐點。

黑毛和牛在鍋子裡煎得吱吱作響，師傅還切下一片片酥脆鴨胸，讓人口水直流。

烹調程序繁雜的勾玉豆腐，和考驗刀工的懷石料理，現在都被華航搬上高空。

[[華航空中商用品供應營銷處長曹志芬]]
“在疫後的這個復甦，我們希望在日本線上，帶給我們的旅客一個非常不一樣的感受，(餐點)以四季為主軸，這次出的是初春御膳的系列”

除了在日本航線推出商務艙專屬日式餐點，還有全新餐具，不過上了飛機，餐點都會先強風冷卻，保持口感成一大挑戰。

[[餐飲集團執行董事王劭仁]]
“整套菜我們從一開始的接洽，到整個完成一切，總共花了超過半年時間，那如果說以一道菜來講，非常容易就花超過一兩個禮拜時間，然後4、5次以上失敗的過程”

[[華膳空廚主廚李明哲]]
“肉就不會煎得太熟，就大概炙燒一下”

疫後航空不只加開航線，也用飛機餐，抓住消費者的胃。

去年長榮慶祝米蘭、慕尼黑開航，設計專屬菜單，旅客機上就能享用燉小牛頰和紅條石斑。

虎航照顧素食顧客，近期則推蔬食機上餐，多一項健康新選擇。

珍珠奶茶空姐手工調製送到你眼前。星宇抓住台灣味，配合A350新機上線，珍奶今年在飛機上也能喝到。航空業紛紛啟動疫後模式，用美食來吸引乘客目光。

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US-based think tank conducts Taiwan-attack simulations, showing Chinese defeat

In a set of 24 simulated scenarios conducted by Washington-based think tank CSIS, Chinese attempts at invading of Taiwan nearly always end in China’s defeat. In most cases the scenarios finished with the survival of Taiwan’s autonomy, but with heavy losses endured by the U.S. and Japan. The think tank said that to ensure a better outcome, the U.S. must better equip Taiwan, allowing it to defend itself. Let’s hear from a senior CSIS advisor.

Voice of Mark Cancian
CSIS senior advisor
Chinese forces were unable to conquer the island, and Taiwan endured as an autonomous democracy.

Concerned about the possible outbreak of a war in the Taiwan Strait, the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies designed a war game to model a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan in 2026, which it ran 24 times in a variety of scenarios. China failed to take over Taiwan in nearly every scenario, and its forces sustained heavy losses.

Voice of Mark Cancian
CSIS senior advisor
China also took terrible losses, often including more than a hundred warships, and tens of thousands of soldiers killed, wounded or captured. Such a failure might endanger the communist party’s grip on power.

CSIS said that a failed attempt at invading Taiwan may cause the collapse of the CCP, but the U.S. and Japan would also sustain heavy losses during the battle.

Voice of Mark Cancian
CSIS senior advisor
In four weeks of fighting the United States typically lost hundreds of aircraft, two aircraft carriers and up to 2,000 other ships. Bases on Guam were devastated. The Taiwanese economy suffered extensive damage. Japan was often dragged into the war, and its bases attacked.

Taiwan’s military would also see the loss of roughly 3,500 soldiers, four destroyers and 22 coast guard vessels, but it would not suffer defeat. CSIS says that the first priority is to ensure that Taiwan is well armed. Unlike Ukraine, Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, meaning that overland logistical support is not possible. Once fighting begins, it will difficult for allies to provide Taiwan with assistance, it said.

Mark Cancian
CSIS senior advisor
It runs out typically within the first couple of days, and then when that runs out the United States has to use shorter-range munitions. Those can be effective, but it increases losses, and increases risk.

Mark Milley
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As long as we remain number one, then we will deter the war that people worry about. A great-power war, between China and the United States.

Su Tzu-yun
Institute for National Defense and Security Research
The U.S. and Japan will help defend Taiwan, but the U.S. should immediately strengthen Taiwan’s defensive capabilities, and should put a stop to China’s military expansion. In the future, Taiwan may have around 2,000 anti-ship missiles, which will effectively prevent Chinese vessels from landing on Taiwan, and limiting the threat from its convoy.

CSIS suggests that the U.S. provide Taiwan with inexpensive weapons systems, better enabling it to protect itself.

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Researcher says delegations will increase as countries unite in opposing China

Taiwan has received a high number of foreign delegations in recent days. The latest was a delegation of Spanish parliamentarians on Tuesday, which followed two delegations of parliamentarians from Lithuania and Germany on Monday. An expert says the momentum is likely to continue as countries rally against an increasingly aggressive Beijing. China’s Eastern Theater Command has protested the visits on Chinese social media, saying that it would not allow, quote, “foreign forces” to interfere in Taiwan.

Johannes Vogel
German lawmaker
Any attempt to change the status quo by force, or threatening to do it by force, is unacceptable.

A delegation of German parliamentarians met with President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday. During the meeting both sides spoke about shared democratic values. The group arrived on Monday, the same day a delegation arrived from Lithuania. That’s just two of many foreign delegations that have visited Taiwan in the past two weeks. Last week Tsai met with a former head of NATO who also expressed solidarity with Taiwan.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen
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Today, Taiwan is a solid democracy that belongs to the families of the world’s democracies.

Prior to the visit by the former NATO head, a Japanese delegation arrived on Dec. 26, led by parliamentarian Seko Hiroshige, who was a close confidant of the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. That was followed by a delegation from South Korea’s Taiwan-Korean parliamentary friendship group on Dec. 28. That delegation was joined by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea. Besides the visit by the former NATO head on the Jan. 3 and the German and Lithuanian delegations on Monday, a delegation from Spain arrived on Tuesday. And more visits could soon come from the U.S., as newly elected U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has expressed a desire to visit Taiwan. The situation has left China furious.

China’s Eastern Theater Command began holding exercises in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, and has released a video of the drills. On Chinese social media, the command also posted that it was resolutely opposed to provocative “external forces colluding with Taiwan independence advocates.”

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NCCU Graduate Institute of Asian Studies
Beijing is growing increasingly worried, so it’s ramping up pressure in various ways. This is backfiring on China in the international community, as other countries condemn it for its actions. This is creating a vicious cycle for China.

The expert says that China’s handling of domestic human-rights issues has resulted in international criticism, and that as countries unite in this criticism, the frequency of delegations to Taiwan is likely to increase.

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Tech company announces year-end bonus of 30 months’ salary

The Lunar New Year is approaching, which for many employees means it’s time to get their year-end bonuses. One tech company has announced a year-end bonus of 30 months’ pay. Another is giving out bonuses of more than NT$1 million to all employees who’ve been with the company for at least a year.

Captain America shows up on the second floor. He’s joined by Spiderman, Optimus Prime from “The Transformers” and Superman. It’s a year-end banquet like before the pandemic. While feasts like these can be fun, what employees really want to know is how big a bonus they’ll be getting for the Lunar New Year.

Yang Tsung-pin
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Don’t forget that year-end bonuses reflect the company’s performance over the previous year. So it’s a lagging indicator. So for the tech sector there could be some worries about inventories and weak demand in the first half of the year. That could also affect the willingness of tech firms to increase wages.

According to a job bank survey, tech firms on average are set to issue a 1.89 months’ of salary as a bonus before the Lunar New Year. That’s in contrast with 2.56 months in the finance sector. With poor export performance in the fourth quarter of 2022, and a slowing economy, salary hikes are not a given. There are some exceptions. Semiconductor IC testing interface firm WinWay says it will be handing out a bonus worth 30 months’ of salary, together with a wage hike of 40%. Meanwhile, semiconductor manufacturer Realtek, which already issued bonuses in October, will reportedly be giving out more than NT$1 million to employees who’ve been in the company for at least one year. Over in the telecommunications industry, a company is raising salaries by 12% to retain talent.

Chang Ting-wei
Telecommunications company
The hike is bigger this year, because of the reasons I just mentioned. The pandemic was a hard time for our employees. And now with inflation, and a shrinking workforce, it’s getting harder and harder to find workers. So that’s why we decided to raise salaries, to attract more talented workers.

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A YouTuber tests the odds of winning on scratch tickets

It’s common for people in Taiwan to buy scratch tickets and lotto tickets ahead of the Lunar New Year, but many may be unaware of the odds. One YouTuber decided to test the odds for himself, buying a booklet of NT$2,000 tickets with friends and sharing the results with viewers. YouTuber Waiting Liu and his friends lost half of what they spent on the tickets, but it turns out their luck was actually better than the average odds. Let’s take a look at just how much you can expect to win from a scratch ticket.

YouTuber Waiting Liu and his friends put together NT$36,000 to buy a book of 18 scratch tickets. Six of the tickets were duds, but there were two winning tickets worth NT$5,000 each, three worth NT$2,000 each and seven worth NT$1,000 each. That means the group of friends paid out NT$13,000 in losses.

Member of the public
I once spent roughly NT$20,000 on tickets and got less than half of that back, but it was just for fun.

Member of the public
I don’t look at the odds of winning when I buy scratch tickets, I just grab whatever catches my eye. If you’re an unlucky person, buy a few tickets and you’ll lose money.

If you hope to win from scratch tickets, don’t just look at the odds of winning. For example, the overall odds for winning a prize on the “NT$20 Million Super Red Envelope,” which costs NT$2,000, are 69.33%. But with prizes as low as $1,000 or NT$500, winning a prize could still result in losses for the buyer. To break even, you’d need a NT$2,000 prize, but the odds of winning that amount are only 29.33%. If you want to walk away with even modest winnings – for example, a winning ticket worth NT$5,000 – the odds go down to only 10.29%. In truth 70.67% of the time buyers will end up losing money on the tickets.

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A League of Legends battle is underway. But look closer at the teams, and you see the contestants are all old enough to be grandparents. This team was formed at Hungkuang University and the average member age is 64.

When team member Chiang Yi-shu first saw the recruitment advert, she was attracted by the thought of learning new skills. She practices five hours a week, traveling from Taipei to Taichung just for training.

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Now 66, Chiang had once upon a time rejected computers. But after deciding to give them a try, she found computer games can bring older people lots of benefits.

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At first, oh, I really didn’t want to learn computers. Because I like interacting with real people. But after I checked it out a bit, I thought, “Hmm, this seems pretty good for our brains.” And using my hands like this, they stay quite flexible.

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She works harder than anybody. Because she spends more time training than any contestant I’ve seen. It’s already very unusual and precious that these older people are willing to play this game. So, seeing as they are willing, I think I should help them taste the joy of it.

The team recently sparred against a VTuber, a virtual reality streamer. Although they didn’t emerge victorious, they were inspired to work even harder and play better next time.

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