Heathrow Airport announces the end of bad plane food

The era of soggy, cardboard-flavoured plane food is over - at least for anyone flying out of Heathrow.

Because the airport has just become the first in the world to is offer 'on board picnic hampers' to all passengers from any of its 118 restaurants.

Every single one of Heathrow's restaurants is now offering made-to-order hampers, designed to be easily stowed away on the aircraft. Costing anything between £5 and £50, many come in insulated bags designed to keep the food fresh, hot or cold at 35,00ft.

The airport offers a huge range of restaurants, including Caviar House, Pret a Manger, The Gorgeous Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food, and Heston Blumenhal's The Perfectionist Cafe.

According to the airport, bespoke hampers can be prepared in around 15 minutes, depending on the type of meal selected, but some restaurants, such as The Perfectionists' Cafe, can offer pizzas to go in around one minute.

To mark the new service, which will be offered all year round, a 'pop up park' has been launched in Terminal 2 in partnership with the Royal Parks Foundation. It features the scent of freshly cut grass and the sounds of birds chirping, and comes complete with sunlight-type lighting, and a park bench. Passengers can access the park and sample the foods between 7am and 8am, 12pm-1pm and 7pm-8pm every day until September 24.

Ben Crowley, head of food and beverage at Heathrow said: "On-board picnics not only give passengers the freedom to choose when they eat their meal, it also provides them with an unparalleled selection to choose from. With a range of on-board picnics available from 118 different retailers across Heathrow's five terminals, passengers are spoilt for choice. Whether they want caviar, sushi or pizza, there's a restaurant that will package something up for them to take on board their flight."

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