Wine on Aeroplanes

I’m one of those sad folk who rather likes airline food. On those rare occasions I get to turn left, of course, never when I get to turn right. Don’t be daft. And now that they are finally taking it seriously, I rather like airline wine.

Food and drink might only be ninth or tenth on our list of concerns when we book our flight, but by the time we stand at the aircraft’s door it’s second only to who we’re going to sit next to (please God not beside that fat man or that bawling baby). Once we finally buckle our seatbelt, however, our only worry is what we’re going to eat and drink.

The major airlines are among the biggest of all purchasers of wine. British Airways, for example, gets through over two million bottles a year and Emirates, which serves around 60 different wines each day, recently invested US$500m in laying wine down.