This autumn, on departure from Paris, Air France will be unveiling exceptional new menus specially created for its customers, available in its airport lounges and on board its flights.
Triple Michelin-starred chef Jérôme Banctel, and Josselin Marie, passionate about responsible cuisine, are the latest chefs to join the prestigious Air France team, alongside Nina Métayer, Glenn Viel, Philippe Rigollot, Frédéric Simonin, Michel Roth and Alain Ducasse and his teams.
To create these menus showcasing French fine dining, the chefs work together with Servair, the world leader in in-flight catering, using fresh, local produce that varies according to the season. In a responsible approach, the meat, poultry, milk products and eggs on each menu are of French origin, and the fish sourced from sustainable fisheries. Vegetarian menus are also systematically available in all airport lounges and on board all the airline’s flights.
On departure from Paris, for the first time, Air France is entrusting chef Jérôme Banctel with the dishes on the menu available in the long-haul Business cabin. Awarded three Michelin stars in 2024, the chef draws inspiration from his native Brittany in creating dishes to be enjoyed all over the world. For Air France, he uses produce evocative of his childhood, enhanced by his own special culinary signature; delicious sauces, without butter or cream. Chicken, buttermilk sauce, buckwheat risotto and parsley oil, and haddock, lightly spiced carrot sauce, carrot variations with orange and ginger feature among his ten dishes to be enjoyed over the next eight months.
“I wanted to offer travellers a glimpse of my cuisine, a blend of gourmet delicacy and unexpected flavours”, stated Jérôme Banctel.
Triple Michelin-starred chef Glenn Viel will continue to sign the entire menu in the La Première cabin. Ingeniously combining his Breton roots with Provençal cuisine, this lover of local produce has created a total of twelve exceptional dishes to be enjoyed until the end of November 2024. To bring an elegant and sweet touch to the cabin’s menus, Meilleur Ouvrier de France and world pastry champion Philippe Rigollot showcases French pastry-making expertise with his lightly-textured and innovative desserts. Strawberry gateau, Black Forest gateau, and an apricot tartlet and rosemary whipped cream are among the six desserts created by the chef for Air France.
In the Premium cabin, the one-starred chef Frédéric Simonin continues to delight Air France customers as part of an on-going partnership initiated with the company in 2023. A perfectionist at heart, he has created a new series of dishes prepared with the greatest respect for the products chosen.
On its short and medium-haul network, Air France also offers a refined gourmet selection. In the Terminal 2F lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Michelin-starred chef Michel Roth, Bocuse d’Or and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, is now signing a range of delectable dishes. To create a rich and varied menu, he has teamed up with the talented Josselin Marie, a chef committed to responsible, gourmet vegetarian cuisine. An original duo of chefs illustrating Air France’s determination to take inspiration from the very roots of French haute cuisine and promote the promising young talent behind today’s inventive cuisine with a view to transferring and sharing know-how.
Air France’s short-haul network, Michel Roth has created a new range of “signature” sandwiches for Business customers, to accompany the in-flight service and adapted to short-haul flight times. With a choice of farmhouse bread with shredded beef and mustard, celery, apple and mild curry, or two types of bread, with creamy goat’s cheese, onion and walnut chutney, the offer changes every month. On the medium-haul network, customers travelling in Business class can enjoy the chef’s cold dish that accompanies the meal proposed during the trip. With a choice of lightly seared prawns, leek fondue and pot-au-feu style beef ragoût, the dishes are also renewed monthly to continue to surprise and delight the company’s frequent travellers.
Air France also cultivates its art of fine dining for customers in all its long-haul lounges. In the La Première lounge at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Alain Ducasse, the world’s most starred chef, and his teams, create exceptional dishes. The prestigious menu includes the chef’s famous coquillettes with ham and black truffle and his rum or Armagnac baba, just like in Monte Carlo. The Ducasse Paris teams have also developed new dishes to be enjoyed in the long-haul lounges in terminal 2E (halls K, L and M). Customers can notably enjoy the “Burgal” signed by Ducasse Paris, a fully veggie, healthy and locally-sourced alternative to the traditional hamburger made from locally produced French cereals and vegetables. And at Paris-Orly, in the international lounge located in terminal 3, customers can discover the refined cuisine of Jérôme Banctel, whose dishes are regularly renewed in line with the seasons.