Airlines are selling in-flight meals for people who aren't flying but really miss eating on a plane
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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 in the wake 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 staff 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 is 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.
GNS Nuts, which supplies American Airlines, was left with 42,000 tons of nuts in late July, which it is now selling online and from a store in Arlington, Texas, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The situation has led several airlines to sell their surplus in-flight goodies in other venues, the paper reported. Qantas has sold $18 "care packs" including airline dressing gowns, cookies, and sleep masks.
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