Why coffee companies are taking to the sky

Bad coffee on flights has been a running joke for decades, but roasters around the world are increasingly identifying the airline sector as a critical space through which to grow their businesses.

“You have to meet the consumer where they are.” That’s what Peet’s Coffee CEO Eric Lauterbach says about the brand’s new partnership with Southwest Airlines, one of a string of recently announced collaborations between coffee and aviation companies.

While for years brews at 35,000 feet were mostly brandless and bitter, airlines have turned to boosting their coffee capabilities through partnering with some of their regions’ leading brands.

From giants such as Peet’s Coffee and Costa Coffee taking to the skies with Southwest and Jet2 respectively, to Bootlegger and Saudi Coffee Company breaking new ground with FlySafair and Riyadh Air, roasters are finding fresh ways to connect with customers.

The beauty of brand alignment

Southwest holds one of the largest commercial air fleets in the world, with more than 800 aircraft servicing more than 120 airports across the United States – as well as a handful of international destinations.

In its 2024 fiscal year reports, Southwest says it carried 140 million passengers more than 140 billion miles.

Peet’s CEO Eric Lauterbach says the ability to expose or re-expose the Peet’s brand to such a large pool of consumers made the partnership irresistible.

“We have the ability to connect with millions of consumers every year on all the flights Southwest has every day,” Lauterbach says. “We already had a very successful airport business, with 25 to 30 locations around the country in a lot of places where we don’t have coffee shops, such as Phoenix, Denver, and Miami. This helps get the brand moving.

“The partnership with Southwest, however, is a great consumer and co-branding opportunity. Like Peet’s, Southwest has a very loyal customer base.

“Now, travellers don’t have to rush through the airport to get a coffee, because they know they’re going to get a good one on the plane. These are moments that imprint on consumers, and I think this is a great opportunity to connect those dots.”

“A million cups in the sky”

Bootlegger is one of South Africa’s fastest-growing coffee and café brands.

Its recent partnership with FlySafair, South Africa’s largest domestic airline, is something that hasn’t really been done before in the country.

Bootlegger Head of Marketing, Miguel Netto, says the company’s desire to continue its expansion away from its home base of Cape Town helped inform the decision.

“It started off as a branding exercise and a way to position our brand and logo in as many peoples’ faces as possible,” he says. “We threw a number out a while ago, ‘a million cups in the sky’, based on how many travellers there are. For me, that was a big billboard.

“But since we started serving our coffee on-board we have found it’s solved a consumer problem in the fact people are now actually buying their coffee on the flight, having never done so before.”

High miles, low flavour

Airline meals have had a notoriously bad reputation for decades, but there is a science behind why food and drink don’t taste good in the air. And it’s a roadblock both Peet’s and Bootlegger have had to overcome.

Low air pressure, dry air, and even background noise impact how someone experiences their meal and drink on a flight. Add in the challenge of brewing the coffee on the plane and it’s a tough nut to crack.

Netto says addressing the challenges of the logistics was the first step in creating a product customers could enjoy.

“They load the plane once a day, it’s taking off and going back and forth on its route, and the wear and tear on the product means a lot of things won’t work,” he says.

“First, we looked at filter coffee and we went as far as seeing if we could get a barista on every flight. We then came up with a series of products, including our Colombian Specialty Grade 100% Arabica Freeze-Dried Coffee, Bootlegger Cappuccino, Bootlegger Hot Chocolate, and Dilmah tea.”

Part of identifying which beverages to sell on FlySafair flights involved creating new methods for them to be stored and brewed.

“We went away and formulated the offerings to make them in this new environment. We didn’t have sachet cappuccino as part of our product line, so we made the best one we could with our specialty Colombian blend,” says Netto.

“We developed it especially for FlySafair. When we tested it, we took a flight and prepared it with hot water in the air.

“It’s our best foot forward and we’re confident it’s the best coffee you can have in the sky when faced with all the logistical challenges. It won’t taste exactly the same as one you’re having from a Bootlegger café, but I can tell you that you’ll enjoy it and that’s the most important part.”

Peet’s Coffee elected to send its new Off the Grid product into the sky with Southwest. A medium-roast blend featuring coffee from Colombia and El Salvador, it was selected after an intensive in-house research and development process.

“We tested a wide range of coffees and found two or three that would work really well at altitude, because the last thing we wanted was for these two great brands to provide a lousy cup of coffee,” says Lauterbach.

“When you get on an airplane, some things go out of your control – such as the water and the delivery. As we went through the development process, we wanted to ensure it was a good coffee at 35,000 feet. Flight attendants move around quite a bit and they’re busy, so we needed to make sure the delivery was going to be great.”

Aside from being the best coffee for the job, Lauterbach says the selection of Off the Grid also ties into exposing consumers to a different Peet’s product they likely haven’t tried before.

“Historically, Peet’s is known for dark roast, but we’ve been steadily gaining market share in the medium-roast segment. Off the Grid is one of our newer products, and it’s just a hit,” he says.

“It’s nice and bright with good acidity – it’s really resonating with our customers. We wanted an approachable blend that’s going to be well-received by as wide a variety of people as possible.”

Back on the ground

Bootlegger’s partnership with FlySafair is still in its infancy and is treading a new path in the context of South Africa’s coffee industry, but the early signs point towards success.

“This is probably the biggest step away from what we have already done, but we spent so many hours formulating this offering so it wasn’t ‘just ok’,” says Netto.

“We are proud of what this has done for the market, our customers, and the general consumer. It’s great to see how proud FlySafair are of it too.”

As the brand continues to expand across South Africa, Netto believes its presence in the sky will help boost awareness of its brand and product offering – and aid in its further expansion.

“We’re very Cape Town-based. We were born there and most of our stores are there. We’ve expanded across South Africa over the years, but now it’s time to grow aggressively, but always intentionally and strategically,” he says.

“We’re a growing business. We wanted to put our logo and brand in the right place to create demand from the consumer, for them to go somewhere such as Kimberley or Bloemfontein and ask when a Bootlegger is opening.”

Lauterbach says for all the customer-facing and revenue opportunities that come with partnering with a brand the size of Southwest, one of the most important things is simply aligning Peet’s Coffee with a small piece of comfort in what can typically be an uncomfortable experience.

“Whether you’re in a hotel, at an airport, or on an airplane, it’s the small things that matter. The things that give you a little more comfort, that make the flight go a little faster,” he says.

“That’s the power of a couple of synergistic and complementary brands coming together. It’s good for the businesses, it’s good for the consumers, and it’s just fun.”