Vietnam Airlines Becomes First Asian Carrier to Win World's Best Culinary Airline

Vietnam Airlines has made aviation history by winning the World's Best Culinary Airline 2026 award at the seventh annual World Culinary Awards ceremony held in Jamaica on 14 October 2026, becoming the first Asian carrier ever to claim the prestigious distinction. The airline defeated a field of high-profile competitors including Air France — which had held the title for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025 — as well as Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Turkish Airlines. The win is credited to the airline's strategy of integrating authentic Vietnamese regional specialities with international cuisine tailored to specific routes: domestic flights feature dishes such as grilled pork with rice noodles, Hoi An's cao lau and Quang-style noodles, while international routes offer Vietnamese pho alongside destination-matched dishes such as Korean bibimbap and bulgogi on Seoul services, and French-inspired preparations on European routes. Business-class passengers on long-haul services to Frankfurt, London, Paris, Melbourne, Sydney and San Francisco can pre-select meals at least 36 hours in advance. The airline used 2,260 metric tonnes of domestically grown Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the first nine months of 2026, reinforcing the farm-to-altitude provenance story behind the award.