Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9310080347
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Levin
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The plastic utensil is a hybrid spoon and fork. The substitution on snack trays, estimates USAir Group Inc., will save $60,000 a year, not counting indirect labor and waste-disposal cost cuts.
The airline is counting that passengers won't notice, or at least won't mind eating cold fruit or cereal with a spoon-like instrument with tines at one end. Indeed, the only complaint since the spork was introduced in January came from a passenger who found it difficult to use with yogurt.
As much as Americans like to complain about airline food, the airlines are concluding we're not as serious as we sound.
And for a company that has an average salary of $52,000 a year, spokeswoman Andrea Butler said she assumes passengers would rather have USAir employees pay critical attention to safety than provide both plastic spoons and forks.
``Our philosophy is: We're not a restaurant but an airline,'' said USAir spokesman Dave Shipley.
When it thinks about food service, the Arlington-based company thinks more about dietary trends of its customers and an emphasis on natural ingredients than the shape of its cutlery, he said.
Also, there's evidence that despite their griping, American flyers care less - perhaps now expect less - about airline food. USAir, like many domestic carriers, doesn't even promote cabin service on its short-haul flights. Only on long, international service do the airlines tout creature comforts, including elaborate food and beverages.
The belief is that the flight schedule and fare are the primary factors that help customers decide which airline to fly.
``Cabin service sways only a small percentage of the market,'' said Roanoke travel agent Mel Ludovici. Only the people whose livelihoods demand flying daily - estimated at 15 percent of travelers - would decide among airlines based on the quality of cabin service.
For clients of Ludovici's Martin Travel Inc., the consideration is more likely to be whether the flight's aboard a jet or propeller plane, he said.
``I don't hear complaints about airline food at all,'' Ludovici said. ``I've always been amazed at what they do serve, considering the schedules they keep.''
So while travelers aren't caring, the airlines are using the opportunity to downscale and save money. These are critical times in the industry because even economic recovery has not pulled the airlines out of red ink.
USAir last month warned investors, some of whom had expected the company to post a $17 million second-quarter profit, that it instead will report a loss and is likely to lose money for all of 1993.
Trimming costs is about the only way for carriers to survive the increasingly tight-fisted policies of corporate travel directors and bargain- hungry consumers. First-class travel is out of style, or out of reach for many companies and individuals.
For major airlines the size of USAir, there are few controllable costs. Big items such as fuel and rental paid to airports is something an airline can't control without sharply diminishing service or abandoning markets.
Personnel and food service are places that can make a financial difference, provided that cutbacks don't drive customers to the competition.
USAir, which spent about $285 million a year on food and beverages for passengers, has forced that item to drop from 4.5 percent of its total costs in 1991 to a projected 3.5 percent this year, Shipley said.
The airline's policy still is to serve food when passengers expect it, if they're in the air at normal mealtimes. But what's served depends on the length of the flight and, thus, the cabin crew's ability to pass out trays and collect dirty dishes before landing.
For example, breakfast is served on flights that depart between 4 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., lunch if the plane takes off between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and dinner on departures between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
But for hot meals to be served, the flight must last at least 60 minutes in the morning and 65 minutes at other times of day. On shorter flights, the passengers get trays of cold snack foods, with sporks.
The money saved on single-utensil cutlery is part of about $4 million USAir expects to cut from all cabin service: You also may have spotted smaller shrimp in the salad. And it's part of $100 million worth of money-saving ideas that employees suggested last year.
``Service,'' said Ludovici, ``is the way you're treated and greeted. That's more noticeable than the food service.''
by CNB