During the holidays, gategroup prepares special meals for their customers that reflect the traditions of the season around the world.
[Zurich, Switzerland]. [December 13, 2025] The kitchen is the most sociable room in the house, no matter the size of the house or the number of couches, chairs, or televisions in the other rooms, and this is especially true during the holidays. With the scents of roasting turkeys and all the fixings, vegetables, mulled wine, and sweet desserts wafting through the house, family and friends follow their noses into the kitchen to chat, laugh, and enjoy their time together. The holidays are a time for family, friends, and togetherness, and food is truly what brings people together. Food is a gift, shared between friends. Food is a meeting place. Food is a memory. And food is what makes the holidays that much more special.
The chefs at gategroup, the world leaders in airline catering, embrace the concept of culinary connections when creating dishes to be served during holiday flights. With over 1800 chefs in gategroup’s kitchens spread across the globe, they bring unique insight into the tastes and traditions of so many cultures that are brought to the table. Serving as the “voice of the customers,” the chefs infuse their passion for food into every dish for the company’s airline partners, from design and preparation to final presentation.
The holiday season can be a busy time for travelers. Families are going on vacation, people are going home to celebrate their holiday, visiting relatives, or even burning the midnight oil and working through them altogether. To make the best of the trips, some airlines offer up special festive meals to serve their customers, reminding them of Christmas holidays past and of ones to come. Giving them nostalgic feelings through flavor. Three of these airlines are Lufthansa, Aeromexico, and SWISS. Each has a special Christmas Holiday menu that they run, with delicious dishes prepared that delight customers and give them a feeling of holiday joy.
Frohe Weihnachten from Germany!
This year, Lufthansa passengers will be taken on a trip full of nostalgia and tradition through years of holidays with every bite they take.
Photo: Courtesy of Lufthansa
From December 1 to 26, Lufthansa will be serving their holiday menu in all First and Business class cabins on Intercontinental flights and between December 4 and 17, in Business class for all Continental flights. The Economy cabins are not left of the gift list, for they will get gingerbread treats, fresh clementines, and a chocolate Santa Claus. These items will also be available for First and Business class. The special holiday meal served this year to the First and Business classes is a Christmas Roast goose with sauce, red cabbage and potato dumplings (until December 26). In areas of Germany, such as Bavaria, the holidays just aren’t the holidays unless a roasted goose has been served for dinner. Red cabbage is a common vegetable served alongside holiday mains, and Lufthansa won’t stray from tradition here either. Cookies provide a sweet treat for dessert, harkening people back to their childhood, making cookies with their grandparents, or staring at beautifully decorated ones in bakery windows.
Photo: Courtesy of Aeromexico
Feliz Navidad from Mexico!
In Mexico, the Christmas holidays are the most anticipated time of the year. It is a time when you can share moments with friends and family.
Looking to offer that holiday home experience onboard, Aeromexico will be serving special menus with Christmas flavors in Premier Cabin in selected routes. On all international flights from Mexico City, passengers will enjoy a roasted turkey with gravy, rustic mashed potatoes, Christmas stir-fry, and caramelized Brussels sprouts. Recipes with Turkey will be available in all the returns from Bogota and Lima, such as rolled turkey in apple sauce. Passengers on flights from London, Amsterdam, and Paris will also be served special desserts. All flights from the USA and Rome will feature turkey as the star dish for the Christmas season, and service from Madrid will offer a delicious chicken stuffed with foie gras and raisins.
Schöni Wiehnachte, Joyeux Noël and Buon Natale from Switzerland!
For SWISS, with their Swiss heritage, there is not just one particular Swiss Christmas dish, but a variety of culinary holiday favorites to choose from.
Photo: Courtesy of SWISS
A popular dish in Switzerland around the winter holidays is “Fondue Chinoise”, though finding a safe way to serve fondue on a flight is rather tricky. Another favorite, Beef Wellington, is a much more fitting choice with the tender cut of filet wrapped in flakey pastry. Additionally, rich meats such as duck with an orange sauce or beef filet with truffles bring the holiday spirit to the plate. To add a little spice, cinnamon gives a festive aroma and is thus often incorporated into dishes and baked treats like gingerbread cookies. This year, for their holiday menu being served between December 18 and 31, SWISS is taking some inspiration from those tastes and textures and bringing them to all their long-haul cabins on flights departing from Switzerland. Guests in First class will be able to savor a Beef Wellington with Périgord truffle jus accompanied by glazed root vegetables. Business class guests will see a smoked duck breast and sumptuous venison terrine with orange and pumpkin compote, roasted walnuts and celery salad. Both First and Business class guests will have some other dishes to choose from, and a dessert that features cinnamon and different fruit compote. Guests in Premium Economy and Economy cabins get to enjoy braised beef with red wine sauce, potato gratin with Sbrinz cheese and red cabbage with apple, followed by another cinnamon spiced, fruity dessert.
The holidays are a time of tradition and celebrating together with food is one of the longest-standing traditions we have. At gategroup, creating culinary connections is part of the company’s identity, and those connections become more prevalent and important during the holidays. The company’s chefs take considerable care when creating menu items for our customers, making sure that they not only taste incredible, but take passengers on a journey through joyous holiday memories.
About gategroup
gategroup is the global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. They provide passengers with superior culinary and retail experiences, leveraging innovation and advanced technology solutions. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, gategroup delivers operational excellence through the most extensive catering network in the aviation industry, serving more than 700 million passengers annually from over 200 operating units in over 60 countries/territories across all continents.
