Emirates will add new plant-based items to its 300-strong ‘vegan vault’ of recipes, upping the available inflight and lounge dining options as the airline sees passenger demand for vegan meals soar to 40 per cent year on year.
In line with the global trend towards plant-based eating, EK served more than 450,000 inflight vegan meals in 2023, up from 280,000 in 2022.
Interestingly, the largest increase in consumption of vegan meals occurred in Economy Class. The airline offers vegan options in all cabin classes as well as cabin crew meals.
In 2023, the Middle East carrier also had more than 300 vegan recipes in rotation across 140 destinations, an increase from 180 recipes in 2022.
The increase in vegan meal consumption saw some regions exceed pax growth: Africa had an additional four per cent increase, South-East Asia saw an additional five per cent increase and the Middle East showed a significant extra increase of 34 per cent.
Significant increases were noted specifically on EK routes to China, Japan and the Philippines.
Onboarding new vegan options in 2024
To meet demand, EK will introduce new vegan dishes on board and in lounges later this year.
These include new plant-based snacks, such as fruit muffins and vegan pizza, and desserts like chocolate pecan cake, pistachio raspberry and raspberry tonka cake.
Passengers can request vegan meals on all EK flights and across all cabin classes up to 24 hours before departure.
Vegan options are available to pre-order on board and order directly in First Class and Emirates Lounges.
Read more about the EK vegan meal service in Economy Class via our flight review here.
For more info, head to emirates.com