The Secret to Singapore Airlines’ Delicious Meals Is an Indoor, Vertical Farm in New Jersey

Passengers will find AeroFarms produce in both business class and premium economy on flights from Newark, in these selections: Soy Poached Chicken, a riff on the classic Singaporean dish chicken rice; The Garden Green, a hot-smoked salmon salad;

By Paul Brady
Travel And Leisure
February 14, 2020

Excerpt:

That’s where Singapore Airlines comes in. The carrier, which operates the longest flight in the world between Newark and Singapore, has been working for years to reduce its carbon footprint, an airline rep says. One way to do that? Reduce the impact of on-board meals by sourcing greens from right down the road. AeroFarms, which is just a few miles from Singapore Airlines’s catering facility at Newark, is now supplying hyper-local produce for the nearly 19-hour Singapore Airlines Flight 21.

“Passengers understand that we’re trying to limit carbon footprint,” says Singapore Airlines food and beverage director Antony McNeil. Beyond that, high-tech vertical farming gives a level of control not found anywhere else, he says. “The beautiful thing is that we can work together to design, say, do we want more pepper in the arugula?” he says. “It’s like Star Trek!” Singapore Airlines will start serving AeroFarms produce on their flights from JFK International Airport, starting next month, and they may soon have sustainably sourced cuisine on all flights from the six U.S. cities the airline serves.

“The goal is, in the coming months, to have ‘farm-to-plane’ at every one of our U.S. gateways,” said James Bradbury-Boyd, a spokesman for Singapore Airlines. That could mean sustainably fished seafood for Seattle flights or thoughtfully made cheeses from Oregon aboard West Coast routes, McNeil said, in addition to vertically farmed greens.

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