Lufthansa Used To Buy 5% Of The World’s Caviar

For whatever reason, yesterday I was reminded of a claim made by an airline executive over a decade ago. It’s of absolutely no consequence, but I imagine that some people may find this to be interesting…

Lufthansa used to be the world’s biggest caviar customer

Back in 2013, there was a fascinating story about Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr. Obviously the industry was different at the time, but at a press event he talked about the need to invest in customers, especially in higher cabins, as they pay more. In that interview, he made an interesting claim, that Lufthansa buys 5% of the world’s caviar, and is the biggest caviar customer in the world, as the airline offers caviar in all flights in Lufthansa first class. He was quoted as saying:

“The further up the class of service, the more we invest per passenger. Caviar service on every flight at Lufthansa first class, which is difficult for us to get. Five per cent of the global caviar production goes to Lufthansa first class. Five per cent. We are the biggest caviar customers in the world.”

That’s pretty remarkable, eh?

During that 2013 interview, he also referenced a new (at the time) commercial the airline had released, which he described as follows:

“We just had this great new commercial. It’s a French guy waking up exactly at 7 o’clock, getting a clean taxi to the airport, being welcomed by a nicely dressed check-in girl and then sitting down in a brand new aircraft. And he keeps saying, ‘These Germans! These Germans!'” (The television spot ends with the man being offered a glass of red wine and muttering: “And this constant perfectionism… fantastique.”)

It’s funny to look back at that, because that definitely used to be the impression of Germany, though I think in the past decade plus, that stereotype has changed a bit. Germany isn’t what it once was in terms of precision and timeliness.

I wonder what percent of the world’s caviar Emirates buys

I think it’s safe to assume that Lufthansa is no longer the world’s biggest purchaser of caviar, and no longer buys 5% of the world’s supply.

For one, global caviar production has increased massively over the years. At the same time, Lufthansa has shrunk the size of its fleet with first class, as the airline no longer has first class on most long haul aircraft (Lufthansa used to have first class on a lot more planes… though that trend is slowly reversing again, with the introduction of Allegris).

Beyond that, though, Emirates has most certainly overtaken Lufthansa when it comes to how much caviar it buys:

• Emirates has nearly 200 aircraft with first class, each with anywhere from six to 14 first class seats
• Emirates now offers “unlimited” caviar in first class, so I can only imagine the quantity of caviar that the airline goes through

I haven’t seen any data published on this, though I’d have to assume that Emirates is now the world’s largest customer of caviar. I’m curious what percent of the global supply the airline buys.

Bottom line

In 2013, Lufthansa was reportedly the world’s single biggest buyer of caviar, and purchased 5% of the world’s supply. In the meantime, I assume Emirates has overtaken Lufthansa. Regardless, it’s an interesting reminder of the volume of “luxury” products that are consumed on airlines.

Are you surprised that Lufthansa used to be the world’s biggest caviar customer?