Qantas has temporarily stopped serving in-flight meals and most drinks on domestic services, due to the COVID-19 situation.
Instead, Qantas passengers will now be served only a complimentary bottle of water and a snack on domestic flights, until further notice. This includes Business class passengers.
Notification about this change is being given to Qantas customers with upcoming domestic bookings when logging into “Manage Booking” on the Qantas website. The notice says:
As part of our response to the evolving Coronavirus situation, we’re making some temporary changes to our inflight service. We will no longer be serving meals on domestic or regional flights. Our crew will continue to offer a complimentary bottle of water and a snack on these services.
We appreciate your understanding.
Qantas normally serves hot and cold in-flight meals in Economy class on domestic services at designated breakfast, lunch and dinner times, and on all longer domestic flights to/from Perth and Darwin.
Virgin Australia has made a similar change to its domestic in-flight catering in response to the coronavirus situation. Virgin has eliminated complimentary snacks for Economy class passengers, but will continue serving meals in Business class. Economy passengers on Virgin Australia can still purchase snacks from the onboard retail menu.
Qantas did not respond to a request for comment.
From Friday 3 April, Qantas is also switching off in-flight wifi and in-flight entertainment.
