commercial aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...

, buy on board (BoB) is a system in which in-flight food or beverages are not included in the ticket price but are purchased on board or ordered in advance as an optional extra during or after the booking process. Some airlines, including almost all low-cost carriers and a handful of flag carriers, have buy-on-board food and beverages as part of their ancillary revenue generation.

United States

As the airline market in the United States became

deregulated Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental Economic regulation, regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 19 ...

, airlines began to compete by price. Airline ticket prices began to decrease, and airlines began to charge extra for services that had been included in the airfare.Brancatelli, Joe. "What's Fair Is Fare." '' Portfolio.com'' ( Bizjournals). July 21, 2010
1
Retrieved on September 28, 2010. Starting in 2003, many

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

air carriers began eliminating free meal services in economy classes on North American flights and replacing them with buy on board services. In the 2000s

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

(now part of

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

) briefly charged for soft drinks but then reversed course. By 2009, many US carriers had established buy on board as part of an à la carte pricing movement. Around that year, US carriers began using celebrity-named and brand name products to make their buy on board products generate more revenue.

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

, the last large United States carrier to offer free meals on all domestic flights, announced in March 2010 that it would begin a buy on board program in fall 2010 and end many of its free meal programs on domestic flights. Jeff Green of ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' described the end of Continental's program as an "end of an era." In the

, passengers increasingly began to bring their own foods on board to avoid paying for buy on board. As of 2016,

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...

remains the last U.S. legacy airline to offer free meals on board, but all of its flights are to/from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...

is the only mainland U.S. airline without a buy-on-board program as of 2016. Today, all three major U.S. airlines now offer free snacks in economy on board their flights, in addition to their buy-on-board menus.

Europe

In Europe, the general increase in the number of tourists that fly, and deregulation which enabled low price carriers, has caused stiffer price competition. Low cost carriers, such as

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

, which charges for all food or drink, have forced traditional airlines to lower their costs. As of 2025 only 3 out of the 21 most popular airlines in Europe offered complimentary inflight food and drink. Air France, ITA Airways, KLM, and Lot Polish Airlines all continued to offer free snacks and beverages on their short-haul flights.

References

{{Airline catering Airline catering Civil aviation

United States

Europe

See also

References