Supply Chain Management in Airline Catering Service: Characteristics, Challenges and Trends

Supply chain management and logistics play an essential role in the airline catering business. The airlines’ cost reduction strategies have recently shifted the focus from culinary aspects to supply chain management. This research aims to understand the unique characteristics, operational challenges and emerging trends of the airline catering supply chain. This research paper has chosen an exploratory and qualitative method based on an analysis of the current literature within supply chain management in the airline catering service. In addition, the findings from the case study presented in this paper are used to reveal more facts and add to the existing body of knowledge. An analysis was conducted by applying the five forces business analysis model proposed by Michael Porter to demonstrate the industry structure and identify the value of effective supply chain management in the airline catering industry. In addition, an empirical study of the airline catering service strategy of an airline catering organisation in the U.K. has been presented. Furthermore, a representation of the airline catering supply chain characteristics has been demonstrated with the processes of the SCOR model. Also, this paper seeks to understand the operational challenges and examines the emerging trends in the airline catering supply chain. Finally, the study concludes that supply chain management can offer enormous potential to improve service effectiveness and add economic value for airline catering industries.