Air New Zealand has temporarily suspended its Koru Hour service as a result of staff shortages at its catering partner.
An airline spokesperson said staff from across the business had lent a hand in the kitchen to support the supplier, but it still had to suspend the service in January nonetheless.
Stuff political reporter Glenn McConnell was on a flight from Wellington to Auckland on Wednesday when a flight attendant announced that there would be no Koru Hour.
While McConnell was “gutted” he would miss out on Air New Zealand’s legendary oversized cheese and crackers, a frequent flyer told him they hadn’t been running the Koru Hour service at all this year.
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“Flight attendants told passengers that there would be no Koru Hour ‘due to reasons outside of Air New Zealand’s control’. When asked more about what those reasons were, they said ‘sickness’. But they told us it would be resuming in Feb.”
The airline normally offers extra snacks and drinks on Koru Hour flights, which include weekday A320 jet services between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown with a flight time of more than 50 minutes.
Juliette Sivertsen/Stuff
The cheese-to-cracker ratio on Air New Zealand flights has been hotly debated.
On these flights, alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer and cider are served, along with cheese and crackers or a savoury snack.
The service won’t be suspended for long though – Koru Hour is set to return on February 1.
“We thank our customers for their understanding while we worked through these challenges,” the airline spokesperson said.
Even minor adjustments to Air New Zealand’s food and beverage services have caused uproar in the past.
In 2015, a disappointed passenger complained that the cheese-to-cracker ratio in Koru…
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