I love flying and I love espresso…and news today from Air Dolomiti makes me smile. The Italian carrier, part of Lufthansa Group, is adding espresso machines onboard and will serve illy espresso.
Air Dolomiti Adds Espresso Machines, Illy Coffee Onboard
Air Dolomiti will add espresso machines to its fleet of 17 Embraer 195 aircraft, offering complimentary espresso for business class passengers or espresso for purchase in economy class.
Steffen Harbarth, CEO of Air Dolomiti, noted:
“After renewing our interiors and our in-flight service with the introduction of SpazioItaliaBar, we felt it was important to relaunch our Business Class product as well. In addition to the comfort of the new seats, the service offers exceptionally tasty menus, a selection of fine wines and now also the possibility of enjoying an excellent espresso coffee. We are the first Italian airline to offer it at altitude and we are very proud of that.”
Last winter, Air Dolomiti revamped its inflight product, moving to a buy-onboard model in economy class (water and chocolate still free, like other Lufthansa Group carriers). More recently it introduced new ceramic dishes in business class and now espresso onboard.
Pricing has not been specified for the espresso nor a timeline for the installation of the espresso machines.
This is something that seems so common sense and so smart. People around the world love coffee and it seems to me that the small additional weight of an espresso machine has the capacity to create a lot of passenger goodwill. Coffee is one way to the heart and I’d love to see other airlines follow Air Dolomiti’s example.
CONCLUSION
While many carriers have restored pre-pandemic service levels over the last several months, it is rare to see a new and stepped-up offering compared to pre-pandemic times. Here, Air Dolomiti has achieved that goal with the addition of illy espresso onboard. I look forward to sipping a hot espresso on Air Dolomiti.
(H/T: YHBU)
Do they use water from the tanks for it, or is the espresso machine loaded separately?
A very good question – I hope they use bottled water!
If you drink coffee in Italy you won’t to drink coffee anywhere else. It is that amazing.
I love Italian coffee…but I’ve had amazing coffee in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Guatemala, and other coffee capitals of the world. The Italians may have a corner on style, but not on coffee! 😉
@Matthew: Italy probably does not produce a single ounce of coffee. The top coffee producers are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and Ethiopia in that order. Guatemala, Peru and other countries have smaller productions as well. What Italians have mastered is the sourcing of the best beans around the world, the roasting process to perfection and of course the build of amazing machines to brew the coffee t perfection at high pressure and high temperature. So yes, you can get amazing coffee in the countries you listed but they have to know how to roast the beans like Italians do and have a espresso machine that has the right pressure and temperature to make a perfect espresso. You have to work vert hard to find a bad espresso in Italy.
Italy absolutely does coffee right. It’s quite disturbing to see Starbucks trying to gain a foothold there. I wish them much failure!
I don’t wish them failure, but what kind of a fool would drink Starbucks in Italy? It’s a sad reflection on the lack of refinement and taste…
I have family in Italy. Italians will probably cross the street to not walk in front of a Starbucks. To give you an idea of how “successful” Starbucks is in Italy, there are close to 3,000 Starbucks stores across Europe and only 11 in Italy. My family and friends share that the Starbucks are full of Chinese tourists that think it is cool to visit a Starbucks store. Good for them. You can get a perfect espresso at any cafe in Italy for €1. That is hard to beat.
We’ll see if Starbucks will be more successful in the Italian market than Dominos was…
Domino’s… trying to sell pizza in Italy… Now *that* was an idiotic business decision! Lol!
The last time I visited Italy it was but a small cup of expresso coffee that I had. Not even a full cup of coffee is what Italians drink.
Oh, man. I love coffee, and the idea of an espresso machine with Illy coffee already makes my mouth water.
One thing. Do you think the noise will be a distraction?
Now that you mention noise, I have an aversion to the sound of soda pop cans opening up. It just drives me crazy. I have to restrain myself in my seat.
Hopefully LH itself will follow suit so that pax can at least have some decent coffee to accompany their mystery meals.
By the way, this ‘first Italian airline ‘ claim is a load of rubbish. I recall having espressos on Alitalia 10+ years back, when they used to fly MD80s! Lufthansa group spin is consistently disgusting.
Italian coffee is like Greek,either too sweet or too strong.,though they make a big deal of it.,nice offering inflight,though.French often do it well, with pitchers of coffee and hot milk you mix as you like.However,I avoid France like most of western Europe as much as possible,LOL
LH brand Austrian Airlines used to have an espresso machine onboard years ago …. I wonder … do they STILL?
On longhauls Swiss, Austrian, Lufthansa, and Brussels do. But not on shorthauls IRRC.
All that caffeine will have me running to the bathroom (Lavatory). LOL.
Brew’s right, brand’s right, airline’s right…perfect. As a coffee nut myself, I appreciate Air Dolomiti’s gesture and salute them as a Star Alliance flyer.
Say what you will about Starbucks, if you have the chance to visit a Starbucks Roastery and you are any kind of lover of coffee, you must go. Last time I was at one, I picked up a 250g bag of beans that had been aged in whiskey barrels. Paid beaucoup, but what a cup. There are only six Starbucks Roasteries in the world, so if you’re in Seattle, New York, Shanghai, Milan, Tokyo, or my hometown of Chicago, make the pilgrimage. From ORD, take the Blue Line to downtown, switch to the Red Line, take the Red Line north to Chicago Avenue, walk east to Michigan Avenue, turn right, and walk south to the Roastery, right on the Magnificent Mile.
And give credit here to United Clubs. Their espresso machines are loaded with illy. Ground fresh and dispensed properly, with rich crema. I plan to start off my morning tomorrow with a trip to the United Club in Terminal 2 at ORD, load up on a couple of espressos, get a cappuccino to get me to the gate, and trip on the caffeine in order to forget that I’m on a CRJ-200 flown by Air Wisconsin.