Remembering McPlane, the McDonald's Jet That Served Burgers and Milkshakes

The McPlane was viral marketing before the concept even existed. Back in the (quite glorious) '80s and '90s, when you couldn't get a bunch of influencers to sell your product to the masses, or you couldn't drop a meme and hope it'd go viral, brands relied on ol'-style advertising to drum up interest in whatever they had to sell.

McDonald's is the biggest, most profitable fast food chain in the world, so, in a way, you'd be excused if you thought it could go without advertising even for longer stretches. But constantly adapting to the demands of a changing market was essential, so this was McDonald's doing just that – by taking to the skies.

McD's was funded in 1940 in San Bernardino, CA, but has since branched out in all but a handful of countries in the world. Part of this globalization effort was notable in the many spectacular PR stunts the company implemented over the years, from McBarges and McBoats to McTrains and McSki service points.

As it turns out, McDonald's also ruled the skies, albeit briefly. Pigs might not be able to fly, but chicken nuggets and beef burgers sure can!

The McPlane was also known as the Flying Ketchup due to its distinctive ketchup-red livery and was inaugurated on April 1, 1996 – not as some kind of elaborate April's Fools but as a new partnership between Crossair, the charter arm of Swissair, local tour operator Hotelplan that specialized in family vacations and, of course, McDonald's of Switzerland.

The idea was to make family vacations even more memorable by turning the flying experience into something to look forward to: not just a means to an end but an awesome experience in itself. Hilariously, Crossair said at the time that the move from serving their passengers champagne to handing them McDonald's menus was a "downmarket" one, but they were eager to make it for the challenge.

The McPlane was a Mcdonnell Douglas MD-83 that entered a Swiss fleet in 1991 and was converted to fit the McDonald's iconic red and gold color scheme in Shannon, Ireland. The conversion included replacing the original seats with 161 seats in ketchup-red leather, with the yellow "M" on the headrests, and making minor adjustments to the galley.

The livery was distinctive and memorable: "McDonald's" in white on the body of the aircraft, with "Crossair" on the engines, "Hotelplan" on the nose, and the golden arches on the tail, just in case anyone thought this was a different McDonald's than the one everyone's "mmm loving it."

Over the next year and some months, the McPlane would become a hit with plane spotters, being active on tourist routes in the European Mediterranean. The maiden flight was from Basel, Switzerland, to Heraklion, Greece, and the last sighting online was in October of the following year. There's no word on when the McPlane was retired as a McDonald's jet, but by 2004, it was back to an all-white livery.

Of course, there was more to the McPlane than just the livery that made it special. To paraphrase the old cliché, it's what's inside that matters – and the same applied here. The menu onboard was inspired by the famous McDonald's menu, except that there were no counters to take your orders from and definitely no drive-thru.

Meals included McNuggets and a variety of McBurgers, as well as soda and milkshakes. Indeed, you couldn't have had fries with any of that because fries were not on the menu. All three partners had considered it at some point, but the fact that you couldn't do any actual deep-frying in the air worked against their best intentions.

The menus included all kinds of toys and souvenirs, in keeping with the idea of turning flying into a memorable experience. Guided tours into the cockpit were also allowed for children, which also helped with that.

We couldn't find any data regarding the success of the advertising campaign that was the McPlane, except for being a hit with plane spotters and the initial enthusiastic reception of the news. Some grumbled on various forums that the leather seats were greasy and the burgers soggy, which, if true, wouldn't be that surprising.

But perhaps the strangest bit about the McPlane was that, despite the name and the association with McDonald's, the food wasn't even McDonald's. All items on the menu were "custom made," so they would allow storing and serving at a later hour, with the goal of "recreating the McDonald's experience." How's that for a stunt?