New idea for your Santa list? Crockery, slippers or trolleys from British Airways
New idea for your Santa list? Crockery, slippers or trolleys from British Airways
LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways put crockery, slippers and trolleys from its now retired jumbo jets up for sale on Monday, seeking to shift retired stock and keep its brand on customers’ minds at a time when very few people are travelling.
The airline, which earlier this year sold off millions of pounds worth of art to boost its pandemic-hit finances, said it was opening a Christmas shop via a website to sell items such as blankets and champagne flutes from first class cabins.
With travel at a fraction of last year’s levels due to the coronavirus crisis, BA has been burning through 20 million pounds ($26.75 million) of cash per day, and earlier this year said it would cut 13,000 jobs to help it survive.
In June it said it would sell at least 10 works of art including pieces by Damien Hirst to help raise funds.
IAG, which owns BA, replaced BA’s CEO in October, before warning that the travel slump had deepened and it was axeing even more of its winter flying schedule after it reported a quarterly loss of 1.3 billion euros.
With the sale of stock, BA said that it was offering customers the chance to buy a “piece of history” with items available from BA’s now retired fleet of Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
“This is an incredible one-off opportunity for people to bring the magic of flying with British Airways into their own homes,” BA director of brand and customer experience Carolina Martinoli said in a statement.
