By Rachel Cormack
High-flying oenophiles will have to get used to sipping a slightly less fancy fizz when traveling with American Airlines.
To reduce costs, the American carrier has decided to serve sparkling wine to first- and business-class passengers on long-haul flights instead of Champagne, as reported by Simple Flying.
Fliers will be served a Ferrari brut from Trentino, Italy, rather than bubbles from the famed French wine region. The brut in question is created with 100 percent Chardonnay grapes just like Ruinart’s signature Blanc de Blancs Champagne. Bubbles from the Trento DOC are also made the same way as the wines from the French appellation. As a result, the difference between the bottles is rather minimal, but discerning sippers will surely notice.
They might also notice that ticket prices remain largely the same despite the fact the airline is popping cheaper bottles. For context, AA used to serve the likes of Bollinger La Grande Année 2008 to much acclaim.
The change was reportedly driven by AA’s recently instated CEO Robert Isom. At the airline’s employee forum last year, he made it clear that cost-cutting was a priority.
“We can’t spend a dollar more than we need to. And we shouldn’t,” Isom said. “We have to be on the lookout for opportunities to save while we provide a great product and while we put all of our fantastic investments to work.”
Robb Report reached out to American Airlines to gain further insight regarding the change, but the airline did not immediately respond.
AA isn’t the only carrier to axe Champagne, either. Finnair has also stopped serving French bubbles on their European flights, according to Simple Flying. Many airlines are still struggling to recover from pandemic-related losses, but AA had a blinder of a year in 2022.
“The American Airlines team has produced outstanding results over the past year,” Isom said in a statement regarding 2022’s financial results. “We’re proud to have led the industry in operational performance over the holidays while producing record full-year and fourth-quarter revenues, resulting in a third consecutive quarterly profit and a profit for the full year.”
Isn’t that worth raising a glass of Champagne to?