Australian flag carrier Qantas will sell you unneeded Business Class pyjamas, surplus amenity kits and stockpiled Tim Tam biscuits in a A$25 ‘care pack’ as the airline looks to offload excess stock and raise desperately needed cash. The airline said the packs would be the perfect gift for friends and family living life under lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Qantas PJs are always popular, and with people spending a lot more time at home and wishing they were travelling somewhere, we think receiving a surprise pair in the mail will be very well received. And probably very well-worn by the end of all this,” explained Phil Capps, Qantas’ executive manager of product and service.
Capps has been tasked with offloading a vast oversupply of products used on international and domestic flights that simply aren’t needed because most flights remain grounded for the foreseeable future. If you can’t meet your loved one’s in person, Capps thinks the care pack is the perfect way “to reach out to those they’re separated from due to border restrictions and lockdowns.”
Qantas won’t restart international flights until March 2021 at the earliest, while domestic services remain curtailed because of a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the state of Victoria and domestic border restrictions. Facing up to the dramatic change in its fortunes, the airline will reduce costs by A$15 billion over the next three years, leading to mass job losses and the grounding of 100 aircraft.
Each A$25 care pack will contain:
- One pair of Qantas Business Class PJ’s
- One Business Class amenity kit with mini ASPAR products
- 12 individually wrapped Tim Tam biscuits
- A 200g pack of First Class smoked Almonds
- A pack of 10 T2 lemongrass and ginger teabags
The initiative is similar to the one dreamt up by the official supplier of nuts to American and United Airlines who has been left with a surplus of 50,000 pounds of nuts normally served to First and Business Class passengers.
The airlines stopped serving nuts after cutting back in-flight service – not only to reduce contact between flight attendants and passengers but also to cut as many costs as possible.
GNS Foods based in Dallas, Texas has seen business drop 90 per cent since the start of the pandemic and is now offloading airline nut packs for just $5 a pound via a new online shop. The supplier has around 70,000 bags of nuts to try to offload.
Qantas is hoping people will be tempted to send its care packs as a surprise random act of kindness or even a lockdown treat for themselves – and in turn, get rid of unneeded stock and raise some desperately needed cash. Orders, however, are capped at 10 per customer.
