Airlines Are Selling In-Flight Meals for People Who Aren't Flying —
But Really Miss Eating on a Plane
But Really Miss Eating on a Plane
■ Airlines are offering their leftover in-flight meals to customers who aren't flying, The Guardian reported.
■ Thai Airways, Indonesia's Garuda, and Cathay Pacific have all offered meals for sale, presented just as you'd find them on the plane, the paper reported.
■ Airline suppliers have been left with masses of surplus stock because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Air-travel volumes are not expected to return to previous levels for years.
Some airlines are offering their in-flight menus for sale as a standalone product to satisfy a growing nostalgia for the experience of air travel, The Guardian reports. Little trays of sealed plastic dishes, just as you'd find them at 35,000 feet, are being sold by companies including Thai Airways, which has been selling the meals since April, the newspaper reported. Aerofood ACS, the company that makes dishes for Indonesia's national airline, Garuda, is offering its meals as takeout, and airport workers can buy in-flight meals from Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, according to the paper.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit airlines hard, leaving them with surplus stock and a need to bring in money however they can. The International Air Transport Association said in late July that the industry was not expected to recover until 2024 at the earliest. Of the flights that are operating, many have forbidden eating as a hygiene measure, a further blow to the companies that supply food to airlines.
The situation has led several airlines to sell their surplus in-flight goodies in other venues, the paper reported. GNS Nuts, which supplies American Airlines, was left with 30,000 pounds of excess food in storage, and has resorted to selling nuts online at what it called "near-cost" prices. Qantas has sold $18 "care packs" including airline dressing gowns, cookies, and sleep masks.
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