American Airlines is making a move that should better align themselves with joint venture partner Japan Airlines on flights from Tokyo to the U.S. and with hoped-for joint venture partner Qantas on flights between Australia and New Zealand and the U.S.

They’ve collaborated with chefs for each of those markets with new menus live today.

Japan Airlines’ Chef Jun Kurogi has curated a menu for American’s Tokyo – U.S. flights (this is not a change to catering for flights originating in the U.S., just for flights departing Tokyo).

Here’s a sample premium cabin Japanese meal:

They’ve brought on celebrity chef Sean Connolly who has restaurants in Australia, New Zealand and Dubai and who has been featured on various TV shows to curate a small plate, a salad, four main dishes and a dessert for flights departing from Australia and New Zealand.

Here’s the Sean Connolly Sydney/Auckland Menu:

In addition they’ve added departures from China to the markets where they’re featuring Chef Maneet Chauhan meals, which currently are served from the U.S. to Europe and between the U.S. and South America.

In their Qantas joint venture re-application they’ve made the point that American is forced to come up to the standards of their joint venture partners with their products, and that this is a benefit to consumers from the joint ventures. That was true with the launch of American’s Sydney service and broadly speaking they’ve viewed their Sydney, Auckland, and Hong Kong flights as premium for soft products like pajamas in business class.

American Even Served a (Bite Of) Caviar When They Offered First Class to Sydney

So the bet here is that these new calebrity chef deals signal also an improved quality of meals as well. I’ll look forward to hearing feedback from those of you who try them in the coming weeks since they’re now live onboard.