Indeed, within days of Cruz’s prediction, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways announced that while continuing to offer complimentary meals in economy class, it too would add buy onboard drinks and snacks while the airline experiments with new products.

Service providers such as the Dubai-based dnata have developed as a result, to support carriers and their customers. In dnata’s case, it provides services for 81 million passengers a year, has more than 38,000 employees, prepares and delivers 117 million meals into the sky every year and currently has 190 customer airlines. It has been named Ground Handler of the Year in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

“The evolution of buy onboard has certainly changed our business - particularly the skills we possess and where we invest our time and energy,” says Robin Padgett, Divisional Senior Vice President at dnata’s catering division.

"Like a retailer on the ground, we must constantly evolve what we can offer our customers and their customers and always be ahead of the game, from digital capability to product design.”

BoB is also carving out a bigger slice of the revenue pie. Research by Accenture, a professional services firm, and technology solutions provider Amadeus shows that between 2010 and 2016 revenue from ancillary options has almost doubled as a percentage of total airline income from 4.8% to 9.1%.

“While the additional revenue is critical, BoB is equally about offering passengers options we know they’ll appreciate, positioning airlines as innovators through bespoke product and increasing the product choice for everyone, while driving pre-order with an eye to reducing waste,” says Robin.

And this is in a field where demand is rising steadily – since 2004 passenger volume has more than doubled to some 4,081 million in 2017.

American Airlines completed its roll-out of ‘Basic Economy’ fares, where fares cover the seat but little else to compete with ultra-low-cost carriers, such as Frontier and Spirit, in September 2017.

“Performance has been in line with expectations, with about 50% of customers who received a basic offer choosing to buy up to the main cabin product,” American Airlines President Robert Isom told investors the following month, according to USA Today.

The CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, has suggested that between 60 to 70 percent of his passengers spend more on their fare when offered the basic option.

While the benefits of buy onboard are obvious though, the road to success is not always smooth.

Over the next few weeks on dnata’s Food for thought site we’ll be exploring inflight retail in more detail. We’ll cover how technology can maximise passenger value; best practice in developing the retail offer; managing the onboard retail supply chain; making the most of marketing – how to motivate crew and effectively engage passengers; why outsourcing onboard retail services makes sense; and look at outsourcing in action – we will hear how our customer airlines have benefitted and how we can help you achieve the full potential of your inflight offer. Subscribe to our updates so you don’t miss out.