Air Arabia food on board: Sky Café menus, pre-orders and halal questions

How food works on Air Arabia

Air Arabia is a low-cost carrier, and its onboard food is run as a retail service called Sky Café rather than as a free meal included for everyone. Passengers either buy items on the aircraft from a limited selection or order in advance from a wider one. The pre-order route is cheaper and offers more choice, according to the airline's Sky Café page.

For a Muslim traveller the useful starting point is a clear separation of three questions. What is on the menu for my flight? How do I secure it? And what evidence do I have about how it was prepared? The airline's pages answer the first two clearly. On the third, the pages reviewed for this guide do not name a halal certifier or make a halal statement, so the answer has to be asked for.

Choosing the menu that matches your flight

The Sky Café page links four menus: the UAE, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. These correspond to the airline's operating hubs, and the right one depends on where your flight departs from and which operation runs it.

• Identify the operating hub before opening a menu.
• Use that hub's menu only for that hub's flights.
• Do not assume that a dish listed in one menu will be supplied, with the same ingredients, in another country.

Menus are published as PDF files and can change between seasons. The UAE file reviewed for this guide carries a date in its file name, which is a reminder to look for the latest version on the day you book rather than relying on a saved copy.

What the UAE menu shows and does not show

The UAE Sky Café menu lists hot and cold drinks, sandwiches and croissants, hot bites, bakery items, salads, a short range of main meals, a children's item and packaged snacks. Main meals include chicken and vegetable dishes and a beef patty with mashed potato. Allergens are listed on the menu.

The menu text does not contain a halal statement, and it makes no mention of pork or alcohol either way. That silence should be read carefully. It is not evidence that the food is halal, and it is not evidence that it is not. It simply means the document cannot settle the question.

If a halal assurance matters to you, use the menu to choose the dish and then ask the airline about that specific item: the meat supplier, the certification of the kitchen that prepares it, and any ingredient such as a sauce or flavouring that could contain alcohol.

The ordering window, including the Morocco exception

The Add Meals page says meals can be added or changed up to twelve hours before the flight, and up to forty-eight hours before for Morocco flights. After that point the online tool will not allow changes. The page tells passengers who are outside the window to contact customer support.

Ways to pre-book

• Online while making the booking.
• Through the Add Meals section under Manage your booking.
• By phone through the call centre.
• At an Air Arabia sales office.
• Through a partner travel agent.

Allow extra time if you need an answer about ingredients. A reply that arrives after the window has closed is of little use, so ask your question first and order second.

What your fare includes

The Add Meals page explains how fares relate to food. A Value fare includes one meal, either free or discounted depending on what you choose. An Ultimate fare includes one free meal of your choice. Extra meals on either fare are charged at the regular price. For a Basic fare, the page says meals can be pre-ordered online but does not describe an included meal.

These details are about price, not preparation. Having a meal included does not mean it has been checked against halal requirements, and a paid meal is not less reliable than a free one. Treat each dish as a separate decision: first whether you can pay for or claim it, then whether you are satisfied it is acceptable.

Fare conditions change, so read the fare rules shown at booking.

Pre-order or buy on board?

The airline states that the advance menu is wider than the selection carried for sale on the aircraft. A dish you can see in the menu may therefore not be on board in sufficient quantity if you leave it to the day.

For a traveller with a food requirement, pre-ordering has two further advantages. It creates a record of exactly which item you chose, which is helpful if you need to show an answer you received about that item. And it gives you a booking reference to quote when you write to the airline.

Buying on board is better kept for drinks and sealed packaged snacks, where the ingredients are printed on the wrapper and can be read before you pay.

Asking Air Arabia for halal evidence

Use the Help Centre to reach the airline. It lists live chat, a contact centre, office locations and a feedback form. Keep the message short and exact.

1. Give the booking reference, flight number, date and departure hub.
2. Name the dish from the correct hub menu.
3. Ask whether the meat is halal, who certifies it, and whether the answer applies to that hub's catering.
4. Ask whether the dish contains alcohol, pork products or gelatin.
5. Request a written answer.

If the answer is that the airline cannot confirm, you have learned something valuable: you can decide to eat only sealed items, vegetarian items you have checked, or food you bring yourself. Religious judgements about food prepared in a non-certified kitchen belong to a qualified scholar.

Checklist if the answer is unclear

• Confirm the operating hub and open that hub's current menu.
• Place or change the order before the twelve-hour deadline, or forty-eight hours for Morocco.
• Save the menu page, the order confirmation and any reply from the airline.
• Carry a fallback meal that is allowed through security and by the customs rules at your destination.
• Choose sealed snacks with readable ingredient lists if no confirmation arrives.
• If a meal is wrong or missing, tell the cabin crew politely and ask the airline for help afterwards.

For wider context on airlines that avoid pork and alcohol on board, and on pilgrimage charter catering, see the related guides on this site.

Frequently asked questions