Take off

IN THE 1960s when airline travel was still chic people used to go to Dublin airport (or Collinstown as it was called) just to eat dinner. One of the signature dishes in the airport was called Chicken Friendship.

Now airport food can be a byword for dross, something to be consumed joylessly until you are squeezed out the other side of the travel experience and have arrived at your destination.

At New York’s JFK Airport the people behind Jet Blue, Aer Lingus’s US partner airline, had a different idea of airport food when they designed their terminal. Chefs from the city’s restaurants were invited to create dishes for the airline travellers coming through Jet Blue’s Terminal Five. The low cost airline decided instead of selling customers reheated trolley food they would allow them to carry on boxes from the restaurants at the terminal.

Passengers going through the terminal can order food from any of nine locations with mounted touch screens and within 10 to 15 minutes it arrives. These docks also have plug sockets to allow you to recharge your phone or computer. You can eat the food at the gate or carry your meal on board. If you have more time you can wander into any of the restaurants ranging from sushi bars to American steakhouses dotted round the terminal. The results have been impressive, according to Jet Blue’s spokesman, Bryan Baldwin. The airline sells 46 per cent more food in JFK’s terminal five than in any of the other top 50 US airports.

At a tasting session from some of the nine restaurants in the terminal on a recent press trip I could see why. A platter of serrano ham, with wine infused goats cheese and Filone bread (a sour dough) from Spanish restaurant Piquillo was great. A simple aubergine, tomato, pepper and mushroom dish marinated in a thyme sauce from Aeronuova was Italian peasant cooking done brilliantly. There was a gorgeous Kobe beef slider (mini burger) and the kind of sushi from a bar called Deep Blue that is still difficult to find in Ireland.

The Jet Blue publicity machine says it’s an airline “devoted to . . . bringing humanity back to air travel”. They recently brought back their blue crisps (made from a variety of blue potato) after customers complained when they were discontinued.

Jet Blue opened Terminal Five in October 2008. It’s designed to give a taste of New York even to those people passing through without visiting the city. As part of that idea they appointed a panel of New York chefs including Del Posto’s Mark Ladner, Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Balthazar Restaurant, Mexican chef Roberto Santibanez and tapas queen Alexandra Raij to help design the restaurants that are dotted around the terminal.

The other attraction of T5 is a great view of the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal, the original 1960's terminal with its curved concrete arches. New uses for the building have been mooted including turning it into a boutique hotel, where, presumably, fans of the TV series Mad Menand Pan-Amcould hold conventions.

Jet Blue, which was set up 12 years ago out of JFK, flies to over 50 US cities and has been in partnership with Aer Lingus since 2008.

Aer Lingus passengers can book connecting flights to those cities from Ireland through JFK with a single fare. Only those people with a Jet Blue connection can go into the terminal to try the food. Gone are the days when people went to the airport just to eat but even without Chicken Friendship it’s refreshing to find food that can be enjoyed rather than endured.