Chef in the air finished
 

From duvarenglish.com (Sorry not sure how to insert link):

The time of the flying cook is over for Turkish AirlinesTurkey’s flagship carrier Turkish Airlines’ recovery from the COVID-19 pause in their operations can take up to five years, the board chairman said. The time of the flying cook is over, he added. THY will no longer offer food on domestic flights or international flights that are up to two hours long.

May 27 2020 2:30 pm (+03)
https://cdn.duvarenglish.com/uploads/2020/05/ucak.jpg Duvar English
https://cdn.duvarenglish.com/uploads/2020/05/THY.jpgTHY’s rules for virus-era travel: No carry-on bags in cabin, passengers to be seated in order

Turkish Airlines’ (THY) Board Chairman İlker Aycı said that the company’s recovery from the COVID-19 break in operations can take up to five years, daily Hürriyet reported on May 27.

The chairman’s comments come as the country’s flagship carrier prepares to resume operations June 5 after a two-months-long pause to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Aycı noted that with 90 percent of all the planes in the world on the ground, the industry’s costs have gone through the roof.

“The price ceiling for domestic flights in Turkey was set at 450 Turkish Lira in October of 2019. Flying at that rate today would seriously harm a company,” Aycı said, hinting at an increase in average ticket prices.

The chairman added that operating with around 60 percent occupancy would not be sustainable for airlines in the long run.

“It will take one to three years to recover from what we’re going through. Maybe five years. We can’t increase our sales with these restrictions, and we can’t have profit without occupancy.”

Aycı noted that it will take time for customers to warm up to using air travel again, which means it will take a while for airlines to reach pre-coronavirus occupancy levels.
https://cdn.duvarenglish.com/uploads.../ucak-adam.jpgAn airport officer signals at a plane at İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport on May 4.Meanwhile, the company might need to adjust higher-income employee’s wages to be able to ensure financial stability for all employees, Aycı said.

“We will try as much as we can to avoid lay-offs. We will need to distribute between those who are paid 20 units and those paid one unit. We have to take from the one paid more to ensure the survival of workers who are paid less.”

In an attempt to cut costs while ensuring customers’, workers’ and the firm’s well-being, THY will no longer offer food on domestic flights or international flights that are up to two hours long, the chairman said.

The airline, known for its extensive in-flight menus and offerings, will eventually start serving food again, the chairman said, but it will all be pre-packaged.

“The time of the flying cook is over. It’s the time of flying hygiene.”

Guests will be able to pre-order online and have their food delivered on the flight. The airline will continue to serve guests water in the cabin.

The airline is constantly disinfectant its fleet, including head rests, arms rests and tables on the seats, Aycı said.

The hygiene kits that the airline offers on long flights will now include face masks and antibacterial products, the chairman added.

I'm heartbroken to be honest. I have my first long-haul TK biz flight booked for August and couldn't wait for the food service. I've flown short-haul TK biz a few times and have experienced the Flying Chef, but I was really looking forward to pigging out from the trolley for 12 hours. Especially at 45k miles o/w. Absolute bargain. I would have got my value returned in plane food...

Mr. İlker Aycı is an interesting Chairman of Board

- The ₺450 ( max price cap ) would probably stay until a future date. I can't imagine the Turkish population except Gastarbaiter paying ₺700-₺800 for a one-way domestic ticket.
- TK & paid meals -> Sorry, but it's being real. There would be a pre-order BoB menu. After this, for non-elites, TK would have no difference than PC in terms of service for domestic flights.

I have a September booking BKK-IST-BRU return, but reading No carry-on bags, the lousy 30kg biz class limit, no chef on board and overall impression of "What's left of TK Service" I will reconsider any *A airline and might well return to QR which has been the best airline to fly J until they raised their fare.

If you have the option, QR would definitely be better than TK if these COVID measures continue. TK should definitely do something that would satisfy their customers rather than implying that they caring about maximum hygiene. If people are choosing Qatar these days, that's because they are maintaining both hygiene and their service at the same time.

I hate to see the chef go too, but at the current time, a dedicated FA constantly making the rounds with hand sanitizer/masks/wipes would feel more important to me.

I'm saddened at the news. The chefs were a feature of TK. Most were friendly, helpful and eager to do a good job. I'm not entirely sure what their full function was, but it freed up the licensed cabin crew to do whatever they do.

I imagine the chefs were not nearly so well paid as the regular cabin crew, and clearly job security was not a feature of their working lives, so i hope they have been treated well by the airline.

I actually don't know the issue in detail but Mr. İlker Aycı does not have good relationships with Do&Co.
He tried to make an agreement with SATS at the first point before moving to Istanbul Airport and then failed.
He also eliminated flying chefs on shorter routes and reduced the number of chefs from 2 to 1 on most major international routes.
Now he is trying to implement Buy on Board or Paid pre-order meals on shorter flights. ( BA approach )

Also, the chefs are outsourced from another company "Turkish Do&Co", even though TK has a part of the ownership of that company, so they are technically not TK employees.

Brace yourself for a cancellation.

But these chefs were not actually cooking aboard the plane? I think the chefs were just there for a show. In the end they just helped the crew to heat the food and distribute the meals.

Those chefs were responsible for the presentation, service, and the heating process of the meals.
Obviously, the meals are prepared at a catering facility at ground level.

They took on some of the roles and duties cabin crew would otherwise have to perform. Thus freeing FA to attend to other things........ or maybe freeing TK to allocate fewer higher paid FA to each flight.

I know some rather ridiculed the flying chef concept, but i liked the idea of dedicated and caterer-trained staff supervising the preparation of meals. i was sad to see them go from shorter flights, in the same way i was sad to see the little frills around meal service disappear in economy.

Sad to lose the idea of a chef o/b but on the other hand, they are just taking up space and are not qualified cabin crew. And "flying hygiene" with Turkish Airlines (:rolleyes:) is just a load of marketing **** .

TK is special because of its food, if TK is going after BA's approach, why would one choose to fly TK instead of other *A members? QR offered status match to TK elites and they are definitely more than happy to take some of TK's customers.

Exactly. Their food and lounge offers separate them from the pack, and half of the lounge attraction is the food! Mediocre food/buy-on-board and they become Pegasus.

Believe me or not, there would still be people using TK and preferring them over other airlines even though they would have the same concept as Pegasus. TK has a huge Turkish customer broad, which claims that they wouldn't fly any other airline other than TK. Also, many people dream about upgrading themselves with Miles&Smiles miles on Turkish holidays, however, these people haven't learned that TK is blocking upgrade inventory on purpose on major holiday routes like IST-JFK; IST-LHR; IST-LAX; IST-YYZ on Turkish school and official holidays :)

BA was successful, eliminating IFE on shorter flights, removing meal services, inventing a Buy on Board, seat selection with money, etc... There are still some people who are willing to pay extra to fly them.