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

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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.

Qatar Airways introduces caviar in Business Class

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.

Qatar Airways introduces caviar in Business Class

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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Category

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (201)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Lonli-Lokli says:
    14 Aug14 August 11:28

    Where did you saw such caviar for £30?? Fotrnum&Mason has it for 70£

    • Chris L says:
      14 Aug14 August 11:29

      First result on Google for me was thetruffle.co.uk selling a 30g jar for £29

    • TGLoyalty says:
      14 Aug14 August 13:08

      F&M isn’t usually the barometer of the market price.

      As little as £24 online for 30g (may or may not be any good)

      Robs £30-40 seems reasonable.

  • patrick says:
    14 Aug14 August 11:31

    Ploughing through the various quibbles here makes me so grateful to have a brain that just goes “Oh, that will be lovely when I fly LHR-SEZ next month.”

  • AC says:
    14 Aug14 August 12:10

    Unforunately…for a fair few friends I know in Asia, this will be a boon for them to show off to their social media. Just recently a “friend” was boasting about how he had shark fin as “noodles” with his friends, this caviar thing will suit them perfectly.
    It’s a bit of a hard thing to comment though, a lot of us have “been there and done that” and subsequently learned that taste wise it’s not a big deal. For most, stuff like shark fin and caviar is still aspirational and bragging rights (why else would people go to salt bae).

    • John says:
      14 Aug14 August 23:41

      Vast majority of shark fin is fake (i.e. actual noodles) for the past decade or more

  • illuminatus says:
    14 Aug14 August 13:05

    1/Will I earn Amex referral bonus if my card has just been cancelled? 2/Is it fine to ask for referral links here, or must use Rob’s apply here with no additional bonus?

  • Henry Young says:
    14 Aug14 August 13:19

    I wonder if this is a single choice perk, as was the famous SQ chicken satay – sorry vegetarians no alternative for you ! Many of the accessory foods that are served with caviar are fine on their own. I wonder how many wasted portions will be left to one side …

  • The Savage Squirrel says:
    14 Aug14 August 13:30

    Caviar: high on the list of foods that people eat just to appear posh or wealthy not because they want to eat it. At least it’s generally OK (although not worth any fuss). Unlike champagne, which people consume to look posh/wealthy and is utterly horrible.

  • Lady London says:
    14 Aug14 August 13:43

    Excellently timed Press Release from Qatar.

  • Caligula says:
    14 Aug14 August 14:04

    It’s quite embarrassing that so many people convince themselves something is good just because it’s expensive. Like relying on the price of a low taste designer item of clothing as reassurance of its worth rather than having any individual discernment. See this also with people who discuss wine and only decide something is great if they know it has a hefty tag.

    • babyg_wc says:
      14 Aug14 August 15:12

      scarcity is what pushes the price (and the desire to have said item) – manufactures know this…. and this is why a rolex/birkin etc carefully control their stock and therefore charge way more than what the product is “worth” … if everyone had individual discernment most luxury brands would disappear..

      • Rhys says:
        14 Aug14 August 15:25

        In this case it is not just scarcity but the time it takes to produce. If the earliest sturgeon don’t produce caviar until they are 5-6 years old then it is a long term investment.

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