The global inflight catering market size was valued at USD 13.8 Billion in 2024. Looking forward, the analyst estimates the market to reach USD 18.7 Billion by 2033, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.39% from 2025-2033. Asia Pacific currently dominates the market with 31.6% share in 2024. The market is driven by the massive usage of in-flight catering throughout the aviation sector due to the growing competitiveness of airlines, technological advancements, and rising internet penetration.
Inflight catering refers to food services provided by airline companies to passengers during air travel. These confectionery items, baked goods, beverages, and meals are specially designed by specialist airline catering professionals based on various flight classes, including economy, business and first-class. This, in turn, enables organizations to offer quality and quantity snacking options for providing a better customer experience and generating revenue. At present, it is available in varying types, including full service, low cost, and hybrid.
Significant technological advancements, along with rising automation in food and beverage (F&B) industry, such as the utilization of tablets and mobile devices for ordering meals, thus ensuring the smooth functioning and management of catering services are acting as other major growth-inducing factors. Besides this, favorable initiatives being undertaken by governments of various countries for elevating the inflight catering standards by ensuring food safety, hygiene and sanitization, especially during the ongoing global outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are further creating a positive outlook for the market growth. The market is also driven by rising consumer expenditure capacities, steadily increasing number of air travelers, and the introduction of premium meal plans by airline companies and catering services.
Inflight catering refers to food services provided by airline companies to passengers during air travel. These confectionery items, baked goods, beverages, and meals are specially designed by specialist airline catering professionals based on various flight classes, including economy, business and first-class. This, in turn, enables organizations to offer quality and quantity snacking options for providing a better customer experience and generating revenue. At present, it is available in varying types, including full service, low cost, and hybrid.
Inflight Catering Market Trends:
The widespread adoption of inflight catering across the aviation industry on account of the increasing competition amongst the airlines represents one of the key factors driving the market growth. In line with this, the need for serving enhanced onboard dining experience is contributing to the market growth. This is further supported by the implementation of high-level services, including meal pre-selection, mixed buy order, and complimentary catering options for fulfilling individual passenger requirements and complying with the hybrid operational scenarios at lower prices.Significant technological advancements, along with rising automation in food and beverage (F&B) industry, such as the utilization of tablets and mobile devices for ordering meals, thus ensuring the smooth functioning and management of catering services are acting as other major growth-inducing factors. Besides this, favorable initiatives being undertaken by governments of various countries for elevating the inflight catering standards by ensuring food safety, hygiene and sanitization, especially during the ongoing global outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are further creating a positive outlook for the market growth. The market is also driven by rising consumer expenditure capacities, steadily increasing number of air travelers, and the introduction of premium meal plans by airline companies and catering services.
Key Market Segmentation:
This report provides an analysis of the key trends in each segment of the global inflight catering market, along with forecasts at the global, regional, and country levels from 2025-2033. The market has been categorized based on food type, flight service type, and aircraft seating class.Breakup by Food Type:
- Meals
- Bakery and Confectionary
- Beverages
- Others
Breakup by Flight Service Type:
- Full-Service Carriers
- Low-Cost Carriers
Breakup by Aircraft Seating Class:
- Economy Class
- Business Class
- First Class
Breakup by Region:
- North America
- United States
- Canada
- Asia-Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- South Korea
- Australia
- Indonesia
- Others
- Europe
- Germany
- France
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Spain
- Russia
- Others
- Latin America
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Others
- Middle East and Africa
Competitive Landscape:
The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being AAS Catering Co. Ltd, Abby’s Catering, Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Ltd. (Cathay Pacific Airways), DO & CO Aktiengesellschaft, Emirates Flight Catering (The Emirates Group), Flying Food Group, Gategroup, Jetfinity, KLM Catering Services Schiphol, LSG Sky Chefs (Lufthansa AG), Sats Ltd. (Singapore Airlines), Saudi Airlines Catering, and Universal Weather and Aviation Inc.Key Questions Answered in This Report:
- What is inflight catering?
- How big is the inflight catering market?
- What is the expected growth rate of the global inflight catering market during 2025-2033?
- What are the key factors driving the global inflight catering market?
- What is the leading segment of the global inflight catering market based on food type?
- What is the leading segment of the global inflight catering market based on flight service type?
- What are the key regions in the global inflight catering market?
- Who are the key players/companies in the global inflight catering market?
Table of Contents
?1 Preface3 Executive Summary11 Value Chain Analysis13 Price Analysis
2 Scope and Methodology
4 Introduction
5 Global Inflight Catering Market
6 Market Breakup by Food Type
7 Market Breakup by Flight Service Type
8 Market Breakup by Aircraft Seating Class
9 Market Breakup by Region
10 SWOT Analysis
12 Porters Five Forces Analysis
14 Competitive Landscape
List of Figures
List of Tables
Companies Mentioned
- AAS Catering Co. Ltd
- Abby’s Catering
- Cathay Pacific Catering Services (H.K.) Ltd. (Cathay Pacific Airways)
- DO & CO Aktiengesellschaft
- Emirates Flight Catering (The Emirates Group)
- Flying Food Group
- Gategroup
- Jetfinity
- KLM Catering Services Schiphol
- LSG Sky Chefs (Lufthansa AG)
- Sats Ltd. (Singapore Airlines)
- Saudi Airlines Catering
- Universal Weather and Aviation Inc.
Methodology
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Table Information
| Report Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| No. of Pages | 138 |
| Published | April 2025 |
| Forecast Period | 2024 - 2033 |
| Estimated Market Value ( USD | $ 13.8 Billion |
| Forecasted Market Value ( USD | $ 18.7 Billion |
| Compound Annual Growth Rate | 3.4% |
| Regions Covered | Global |
| No. of Companies Mentioned | 13 |
