Budget airline aims for a taste of 1st class

CAMBRIDGE -- In an age when passengers are lucky if ''airplane food" means a bag of pretzels and a half-cup of diet cola, Song is trying to carve out a niche as the carrier that actually offers some decent food.

And it's turning to one of Harvard Square's best-known upscale eateries for help.

Next week, Song, the low-fare affiliate of Delta Air Lines Inc., will unveil a menu of sandwiches and salads created by Peter Davis, chef of Henrietta's Table and executive chef of the Charles Hotel. Since ''free" is a word that no longer applies to much of anything in the aviation business, Song's passengers will have to pay $8 per item.

But they'll get healthier and more stylish choices than what most airport food courts offer. A sampler: smoked turkey on New England cranberry nut bread, grilled vegetable salad on arugula with chèvre cheese, and a balsamic vinegar chicken nicoise salad with blanched string beans.

Song is charting an unusual course for the airline industry. Airlines still offer cooked meals on international flights and to first-class domestic passengers. But for other travelers, prepackaged chips, cookies, crackers, cheese, and meats have become the rule. Some don't even go that far: Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Inc. recently canceled free half-ounce bags of twisted pretzel sticks to save $2 million a year.

Among other carriers, American Airlines and United Airlines offer freshly made sandwiches and salads for sale during some flights. Since 1988, American has used chefs from restaurants near its Chicago, Dallas, and Miami hubs to plan menus. But those meals are generally available only on transcontinental, Alaska, or Hawaii flights. US Airways In-Flight Cafe service is limited to Western US routes.

Song, in contrast, will offer Davis-designed meals on all flights after 9:30 a.m. on all routes out of Boston. Song flies to five Florida cities, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Some frequent travelers said Song's good-food push intrigues them, but they're still choosy consumers. Sarah McAuley, a marketing executive with Sonus Networks Inc. of Chelmsford, said the kinds of fresh and healthy menus Song is offering ''would be lovely, but it would have to be fairly cost-competitive, and it would also depend on what you could get at the airport. I'm a firm subscriber to the JetBlue model of leaving it up to you to bring your own meal."

Indeed, as airlines have cut back, they've encouraged passengers to bring their own food. Airports have also improved their food courts -- beyond fast food and bars -- to cater to people who choose to carry on their own meals.

Jaime Jewell, a Song general manager, said the airline's market research showed there was a group of travelers willing to pay for the convenience of not having to carry a messy, lukewarm bag of food onto the plane. About 36 percent of Song passengers -- and somewhat more out of Boston -- buy an on-board meal or snack.

As Delta was designing the Song service two years ago, Jewell said, it conducted extensive market surveys showing that better-than-usual food would be a selling point for passengers, particularly women. ''We got thinking, what if you could actually provide on board an airplane an un-airline experience with food that would be as far away from peanuts and Diet Coke as you can get?" Jewell said.

But food is tricky for airlines. Because of space constraints, airplanes do not have full kitchens, so food has to be cooked hours ahead of time at assembly-line kitchens on the ground and then chilled. On board, planes only have convection ovens to warm up food. Airlines are reluctant to do more because passengers rarely appreciate good food and prize low fares, frequent-flier miles, and other perks over quality nosh.

''You want to focus on what you can do well in flight," said Mary McKee, managing director of in-flight products for American. ''We're not a five-star restaurant flying around."

American serves a wide range of hot entrees -- including lamb, pasta, beef, and chicken dishes -- but its consulting chefs have learned that ''your taste buds work differently 30,000 feet in the air than they do on the ground," McKee said. As a result, many dishes need added spices and flavorings to taste zesty in flight.

Davis of Henrietta's Table came to Song's attention through Michel Nischan, a New York chef who created Song's first menu more than a year ago. Both are devotees of organic and locally grown produce.

''Everyone needs to be a little more careful about what they eat," Davis, 49, a Nahant native, said. ''With Song, for me it was a natural fit."

Davis said one of his tenets of a good plate -- it should rely on no more than a half-dozen ingredients, chosen as deliberately as possible -- happens to also be a virtue for airport kitchens preparing sandwiches and salads thousands at a time. Davis has been chef at the Charles and Henrietta's for more than 11 years; he previously held positions as a hotel chef in Bali, Beverly Hills, Calif., Hong Kong, and Singapore.

To evaluate his meals before a final taste-off in Atlanta earlier this fall, Davis subjected them to an acid test: Put them in the refrigerator overnight and see which ones taste best the next day.

''It's all served cold, it has to be mass-produced, and you want it simple," Davis said. ''But you want it to taste good."

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.