Qatar Airways introduces caviar in Business Class as the quality gap keeps widening

Never an airline to stand still, Qatar Airways has announced it is introducing a caviar service for business class passengers, starting tomorrow.

Caviar is generally served only in First Class cabins, with airlines such as Air France, Emirates and Lufthansa serving the fish roe to top customers.

Whilst Qatar Airways already offers caviar for those flying in First Class on its A380s, this announcement means that many more customers will get to try the savoury snack. It makes it, I believe, the first airline to offer it in business class.

My first taste of caviar was actually on Malaysia Airlines, in their ex-First Business Suite cabin.

According to the airline: “the new caviar service can be enjoyed as a standalone option or part of the onboard meal courses.” This means you can continue to enjoy Qatar’s dine-on-demand catering, including its signature Arabic mezze starter, as well.

The caviar in question is Baerii from the Siberian sturgeon. This is the most popular cultivated species as it grows to sexual maturity relatively quickly and means the roe can be harvested sooner at around 5-6 years of age.

Qatar Airways has told us it will serve 15g per person. A 30g tin of Baerii caviar retails for around £30 – £40 in the UK which makes this a substantial commitment in aviation spending terms.

The caviar will be served in the traditional way, with garnishes of creme fraiche, chopped chives, chopped red onion and crumbled hard-boiled egg. It is paired with a slice of lemon and thick chunks of Balik style salmon, blinis and Melba toast.

The service will initially start on 13 routes to and from Doha, including:

• Boston
• Dallas
• Hong Kong
• Houston
• London
• Los Angeles
• Melbourne
• New York
• Paris
• Sao Paulo
• Singapore
• Sydney
• Washington DC

There is good news for UK travellers, with London one of the first cities to see the new service.

Back in 2013, Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr said that “Five per cent of the global caviar production goes to Lufthansa first class. Five per cent. We are the biggest caviar customers in the world.”

This title surely now goes to Qatar Airways which, although only launching on 13 routes initially, will presumably serve far more caviar across its much-larger business class cabins. Lufthansa has also cut back the number of First Class seats it offers since 2013.

Spohr said the volumes Lufthansa needed were “hard to get” which raises the question of where Qatar Airways is sourcing its caviar from. Has it invested in a new aquaculture farm? The Middle Eastern carriers take a far longer view than most – as we covered last year, Emirates has six million bottles of wine and champagne in storage, some of which will not reach maturity until 2037.

Let’s hope Qatar Airways stocks enough of the stuff on board as I expect it will be popular!

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