Chinese airlines have suddenly started taking in-flight dining seriously, and passengers have noticed. Social media is filling with posts about new paid meal options served in economy class, from 19 yuan (about $2.70) ham-and-cheese sandwiches to a 344 yuan (about $48.50) seafood and caviar platter on Air China. The trend, reported by the Chinese outlet Huxiu, has reignited a familiar debate: can airplane food ever be good?
The answer, for now, is that a growing number of carriers are betting passengers will pay to find out. China Eastern began offering light meals in April on 11 routes departing from Xi'an, with items like a 35 yuan (about $4.90) salmon salad and a 29 yuan (about $4.10) whole-wheat teriyaki chicken burger. Lucky Air, part of the Hainan Airlines group, sells a 40 yuan (about $5.60) home-style rice set with options such as fish-fragrant shredded pork and braised beef brisket. Sichuan Airlines has brought 58 yuan (about $8.20) maocai and twice-cooked pork rice bowls to the tray table.
China Southern has targeted families with a 68 yuan (about $9.60) "Happy Little Flyer" set featuring meatball rice balls, a Häagen-Dazs scoop and fresh fruit. Air China's 234 yuan (about $33) cod clay-pot rice and the 344 yuan seafood-caviar platter have each drawn more than a million views on social media, according to Huxiu.
Free meals stay, for now
The surge in paid options raises an obvious question: is the free economy meal, long a punchline for its soggy bread and mystery meat, about to disappear? Not yet. In April, the China Air Transport Association said full-service carriers had no plans to cancel free economy-class catering, describing paid meals as a value-added service for passengers with different needs.
That "free" meal is not actually free, of course. State broadcaster CCTV has reported that a long-haul economy meal costs airlines about 25-30 yuan (about $3.50-4.20) to produce, while short-haul snacks run about 10 yuan (about $1.40) - a cost that has not changed in years. In 2025, Air China, China Eastern and China Southern each spent between 4.5 billion and 4.9 billion yuan (about $630-690 million) on in-flight catering, according to Huxiu. Much of that food is thrown away after landing, wasting ingredients, cold-chain logistics and labour.
Turning catering into a revenue stream looks more appealing. Industry estimates cited by Huxiu suggest that if paid-meal penetration reaches 5-10 percent with an average ticket of 60 yuan (about $8.50), the sector could unlock 700 million to 2.3 billion yuan (about $100-320 million) in annual profit. Premium meals carry gross margins of 30-50 percent.
A history lesson in airline food
Paid in-flight meals are actually the original model. The first airline meal, served in 1919 on a London-Paris flight, was a cold lunch of sandwiches and fruit priced at three shillings - roughly a day's wage for a dockworker. Free meals became the norm only in the 1950s and 1960s, when US airlines, locked into regulated fares, competed on service with steak, lobster and champagne.
In China, early reform-era flights served braised sea cucumber, prawns and Quanjude roast duck in economy, with Moutai in first class. As air travel democratised, carriers stripped out the luxury to cut costs, leaving the aluminium foil box that travellers love to hate. Now, with airports upgrading their food courts and passengers increasingly willing to spend, airlines are betting that a decent meal at 30,000 feet is a product worth selling again.
