We are celebrating the announcement of our new on-board catering partner, DO & CO Event and Airline Catering Ltd. serving restaurant-quality gourmet meals to customers. We are proud to announce the launch of new on-board menus in both Business and Economy cabins on all flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg, serving a selection of high quality international inspired dishes and South African award-winning wines.

SAA Business and Economy customers travelling from London can look forward to experiencing gourmet restaurant cuisine. All meals are handmade from the freshest, locally sourced ingredients, along with a hand-picked selection of award-winning South African wine pairings. Menus will be kept fresh and inspiring with a seasonal quarterly rotation.

Business class dining
New dishes on offer for Business customers include fresh Loch Fyne Scottish Smoked Salmon, Grilled Cod (MSC approved) from the North Atlantic served with saffron velouté, baby carrots, and mushy peas, or freshly prepared handmade Truffle Tortellini with grilled artichoke and parmesan. For dessert, there’s a choice to please any sweet tooth, including Mango Panna Cotta, Avocado Chocolate Mouse, and Passion Fruit Tiramisu.

The new menus will be supported by an award-winning South African wine list, including Spice Route Sauvignon Blanc 2013, and Franschhoek Cellars Old Museum Merlot 2012.

Discover our menus on the London to Johannesburg flights:
Current menu - served onboard from 1st August 2014

Economy class dining
Economy customers can enjoy meals such as Viennese Paprika Chicken with homemade buttered Spätzle and broccoli or Rigatoni with a Rosemary Sauce, rocket and tomato salad, sprinkled with parmesan, followed by a delicious carrot and banana cake with cheese and crackers.

Discover our menus on the London to Johannesburg flights:
Current menu - served onboard from 1st August 2014

Behind the scenes
Selecting the food and wine to be served at 30,000 feet is not an easy task as our palette differs on the ground to what it is in the air. Bongi Sodladla, SAA’s Senior Food and Beverage Manager & Sommelier manages this diligent process by carefully selecting wines which work with the food being served. The airline receive over a thousand wine entries, which together with the SAA sommelier and independent wine connoisseurs are all tasted over three days, assessed and given a score.

She says, ‘I assess the ability of the food and the wine to maintain flavour and shine even at 30,000 feet, as our taste buds may be dulled by up to 30% when flying. We taste over 300 wines each day, for three days and rate them out of 100. Only the very best wines from South Africa finally make it on board, with a selection of 60 wines on a monthly rotation. These are the ones with bold flavours that complement the vibrant and delicious menu offerings that adequately reflect our cosmopolitan airline. The new meals must be really captivating and well-crafted in order to delight our customers travelling for both business and leisure purposes".

Three new awards
We have also been ranked in the top ten in the World’s Best Business Class Airline Catering at the 2014 Skytrax World Airline Awards. SAA is the only African carrier to achieve this ranking, and the only carrier flying directly between London and Johannesburg to achieve a top ten status.

As if that wasn't enough we were also named "Best African Airline" for the twelfth consecutive year and "Best Airline Staff Service Africa"!