AirAsia to launch a restaurant serving its inflight meals

'Our food is fantastic,' said the airline's CEO

AirAsia is to launch a restaurant (iStock)

Budget airline AirAsia is to launch a restaurant serving its inflight meals, according to the airline’s boss.

“Our food is fantastic. We believe in it so much that we’re going to start a fast-food restaurant out of it.

“It’s called Santan,” said AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes, who was speaking on Larry King Now.

AirAsia’s popular inflight menu is called “Santan”, meaning coconut milk in Malay, which launched in 2015. Coconut milk is also a popular ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking.

Its website describes Santan as “a delicious culinary experience in the sky”.

While no further details have been given as to the location of the restaurant, it’s likely it would be in Malaysia – AirAsia’s home country.

Santan’s inflight menu is one of the more extensive among airlines, and serves dishes from across Asia, such as Indonesian rice dish nasi lemak; chicken teriyaki; and Sichuan favourite mapo tofu with rice.

It’s not the first time that inflight menus have left the air and come down to earth.

In December, Chrissy Teigen said she would love to curate an inflight menu, while United Airlines announced it would publish a recipe book of its favourite inflight meals.