Thai Airways has had a legacy of struggle and under-performance. Then in 2020, Covid-19 devastated the airline industry. Sales dropped by 79% as a result of border closures and travel restrictions. For Thai Airways, the effect was immediate and in May 2020 it went into debt restructuring to manage its 240bn baht in debt.

For many of Thai Airways divisions and employees, this signalled that it would no longer be a question of could they make money, but rather a question of could they stay in business and keep their jobs. Many Thai Airways employees were put on suspension with no pay. People had to look for new ways to earn a living.

At this point, the Thai Airways CEO called a roundtable meeting with all its heads of division. Being partially government-owned, they had to try to save as many jobs as possible, and all heads of division were asked for plans to pivot and transform themselves from being ONE large airline with over 60 years of flying heritage to MANY small businesses. They were given 60 days to act.

Thai collaborated with their partners to define this new direction and pivot their businesses within a matter of days.

During nationwide curfews and lockdowns, Thai Millennials were effectively grounded. Despite the desire, they couldn't travel internationally. Having their wings clipped, Thai Millennials turn to social media to reminisce about happier times, posting “throwbacks” to past vacations. To those who had their trips canceled, they would often pine that “on this day I was meant to be in [insert planned exotic destination]."

Meanwhile, Thai Airways were fighting to survive. People’s jobs and their families’ livelihoods were at stake. While nothing could replace the revenue from flights, we believed that finding new and smaller revenue streams was the only hope to save the people and their jobs.

Our Insight: Thai Millenials miss, crave, and recall their travel experiences. But when travel is impossible, food and flavours from around the world can satisfy their taste for travel.

Our strategy: Having the most award-winning international food (2017-2018 world’s best Onboard Catering, SKYTRAX World Airline Awards), Thai Airways catering offered the potential to connect with people who hungered for a taste of international experiences. When you can't travel, we bring the taste of travel to you.

THAI AIRWAYS DESTINATION MENU: FROM PLANE TO PLATE

To achieve this, we partnered with Thailand's top delivery apps – Grab (50% market share) and LineMan (20% market share) – THAI launched DESTINATION MENU, bringing a taste of travel to millions of people in lockdown with 12 special menus inspired by 5 of its most iconic destinations.

We then activated Thai Airways staff as KOLs to announce the new Destination Menu, making this a zero-cost effort while still delivering reach and authenticity. PR further drove desire by having food bloggers spread the news.

By leveraging the world’s best catering service, we helped pivot the business at its most critical moment. When the lockdown restrictions eased, the idea expanded into in-person cafes offering in-flight meal experiences to satisfy people's craving for travel and international cuisines. This also provided a life-raft for a new group of employees as flight attendants & pilots greeted and served guests. The staff used their diverse talents to deliver a first–class experience by creating a live band to entertain guests during their meals.

Consumer response was instant, with guests having to book a table 3 days in advance. The cafes and home-delivered meals are still in operation today.

The simple answer is that Destination Menu saved over 2200 jobs, and it did so with 0 paid media spend allowing all revenues from the activity to pass directly back to the employees and their salaries.

The additional success metrics of Destination Menu include:

• Launched an entirely new and profitable business line for the catering team

• Generated 4,500 orders in the first two weeks

• Maintained an average of $600k USD per month revenue

Beyond this, it generated both local and global PR with sources ranging from the BBC, to Business Insider, to Fox News and countless travel publications and blogs.

But the real measure of success is that the idea was not a momentary flash in the pan. Destination Menu continues today as both delivery service and as expanded airplane-themed cafés where people can sit and enjoy foods from around the world while being served by airplane staff.

In short, Destination Menu saved jobs at the start of the Pandemic, and it continues to save jobs today.

That said, Thai Airways remains financially insecure. Our hope is that Destination Menu continues to provide for the 2200 people and families that rely on their food services for employment.