No catering contract in place at Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines is experiencing some passenger discontent after ending its pre-existing catering contract on September 1 without having locked in another provider. Consequently, some passengers are complaining about being served packaged food such as biscuits and bread on flights rather than the traditional in-flight meal. Malaysia Airlines has long enjoyed a strong reputation for its inflight catering. As previously reported in ch-aviation, Malaysia Airlines' parent company, Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), ended its 26-year catering contract with Brahim's Food Services Sdn Bhd (BFS) on September 1 after failing to agree on certain new contractual clauses. As a result, Malaysia Airlines implemented its business continuity plan to ensure catering still reached its departing flights. Pending negotiating a new contract, the airline is now using eight providers, including Pos Aviation Sdn Bhd and MAS Awana Services Sdn Bhd. Pos Aviation had previously catered for certain Malaysia Airlines flights, including flights to Japan and South Korea. They have since taken on the catering for flights to the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Australasia. Consequently, normal food and beverage service continues on these routes. However, catering on other routes, primarily short and medium-haul routes, is affected. Passengers on the impacted routes are being advised that all special meals, the Chef-on-Call service, meal upgrades and pre-booked meal options are paused. Depending on the class of travel and route, passengers may get pre-packaged meals rather than fresh meals. Additionally, on some longer flights, there may be a "revised meal structure," although the airline does not specify what that entails.<br/>