When Matt Moran boarded his debut first class flight with Singapore Airlines, he was offered a champagne choice of Dom Perignon or Krug Grande Cuvee. He did what any sensible person would. He took both. “I had a glass in each hand,” the chef laughs. “It was a good flight.”

Meanwhile Neil Perry’s eyes almost mist up when he recalls a dry-aged rib eye with cabbage gratin, broccolini, potato and mustard on Qantas’ first direct flight from Sydney to Dallas. “Texas is famous for steak and that one was straight off our menu at Rockpool Bar & Grill,” he enthuses.

Airline meals historically have had a deserved bad rap. But over the past few years some airlines have invested heavily in what’s served on board, particularly at the pointy end of the plane. Attracting business class passengers is crucial to the success of any airline. Though they rarely account for more than a third of seats, they are responsible for the majority of an airline’s profits.

After flat beds and better inflight entertainment, food is the new front line. “Planes all get you from A to B but they’ve become competitive with better entertainment, better seats and better food,” says Moran. “When you think back 25 years, people used to regard airline food as similar to hospital food. Now they are so far apart it’s laughable.”

As airlines battle to differentiate their offerings, they are partnering with top chefs to improve the quality of inflight food. Qantas is now celebrating 20 years’ partnership with Neil Perry and the Rockpool Dining Group. Meanwhile, Moran has his seatbelt fastened with Singapore Airlines, Virgin has Luke Mangan rattling the pans and Etihad flies with more than 200 classically trained chefs from 35 countries.

And they are pulling out all the stops to wine and dine us. In September, Emirates introduced a new wine list including Chateau d’Yquem 2005, Dom Perignon Rosé 2005 and Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage 2008.

Perry has also helped to raise dining standards in Qantas economy. “We were involved with creating the fresh mealbox a couple of years ago and that really lifted it to another level.”

In March, Virgin and Barossa Valley winery St Hallett uncorked a custom wine blend specifically for consumption at 38,000 feet. Meanwhile, Etihad will cook you a steak sandwich from scratch.

“Guests are always surprised when I ask them how they would like our Wagyu sirloin cooked,” says Etihad Airways inflight chef Jeremy McPherson. “We make our famous steak sandwich from scratch, slicing the steak just before putting it on our toasted bun.”

At the Qantas test kitchen in Sydney, David Speck, menu and productive development manager for Rockpool Consulting at Qantas, says business and first class dishes start with produce sourced from local producers in every port, which is then prepared in trays with coloured foil – green for vegetables, red for red meat – then cooked in ovens of varying temperatures, and plated onboard. On Qantas, the food is cooked inflight, a challenge for crew working in confined spaces.

“I think if one of my Rockpool chefs walked into the galley they would throw up their hands and say, ‘Chef, this is too hard!’ and walk out. I really take my hat off to the crew, who are super-organised and super-efficient,” says Perry.

Etihad Airways serves an average 13,150 meals a day on flights servicing Australia, while each week Singapore Airlines serves over 40,000 meals on flights from Australia to Singapore, of which suites, first and business class make up around 14 per cent of total seats. Emirates prepares about 10,000 meals a day for Australian flights and Virgin crew deliver around 22,000 meals in Australian airspace.

Unusual requests are commonplace. Damon Stanton, Virgin Australia general manager of inflight services and catering, recalls a Hollywood A-lister who asked Virgin Atlantic staff to load them a Big Mac, while McPherson once received an order for Halal pork ribs – “there must have been a language barrier”.

On an Emirates flight, “one passenger ordered a more generous portion of caviar. A few minutes later the cabin crew noticed she had reclined her seat horizontally, with the full portion of caviar on her face as a hydrating mask,” says Joost Heymeijer, Emirates’ senior vice president of inflight catering.

While economy passengers tend to take what they’re given, business class flyers are more demanding.

“Business is the most difficult class to feed because people have upgraded themselves or it’s part of their work privileges, so they want the whole experience,” says Speck. “First class people are the easiest because they know what they want and they travel so much that they just want to sleep.”

Qantas research shows people love breaking the rules when they’re flying. There’s a common belief that people order tomato juice on airplanes because of the umami flavours, but Moran has a different explanation.

“I think a lot of people have a Bloody Mary because if they’re on a morning flight and think it’s too early to be seen drinking champagne, they can slip some vodka into the tomato juice and no one will know the difference.”