LONDON, Nov 23 (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.
($1 = 0.7476 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Estelle Shirbon)