Struggling Hong Kong Airline Sells In-Flight Food Carts Online

Hong Kong Express Airways placed a limited number of galley boxes and waste trolleys used on its flights for sale on its website this week as the budget airline struggles to offset the financial losses suffered over the past year due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

“Each plated with our first-generation logo and a unique license plate, these trolleys are the must-have for cosplay parties or movable furniture for home decors!” read a description for the used equipment on the airline’s website, according to the news site Coconuts Hong Kong.

“All trolleys are extensively cleansed and disinfected and are in full functional conditions,” Hong Kong Express Airways assured shoppers.

The airline advertised a “half-sized” trolley branded with its first-generation logo for HK $4,500 ($580).

“The full-sized version of the trolley, priced at HK$5,000 (US$645), can be a ‘practical shoe cabinet’ or a ‘fancy champagne trolley,'” the airline suggested, according to Coconuts Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Express Airways listed a first-generation waste trolley for HK $6,000 ($772) as its most expensive offering.

“Completely sanitized and repaired, they are ready for new homes to offer trustworthy ‘rollable’ service, regardless of being a household garbage bin, or a large laundry basket for those who do not want to wash their clothes for a week!” Hong Kong Express Airways wrote of the larger trolley.

Hong Kong Express Airways is a budget airline owned by Cathay Pacific Airways, which in March reported a record annual loss of $2.8 billion for 2020.

“Our short-term outlook continues to be challenging. However, we remain absolutely confident in the long-term future and competitive position of our airlines,” the airline’s chairman, Patrick Healy, said in March.

Cathay Pacific serves as the flag carrier of Hong Kong and was negatively impacted last year by both the coronavirus pandemic and political turmoil in Hong Kong caused by a Chinese Communist Party crackdown on the city’s traditional semi-autonomy. Cathay Pacific also suffered severe losses in 2020 because “unlike some other airlines [it] doesn’t have a domestic travel market to fall back on,” according to the BBC.

“In October [2020], Cathay Pacific announced it would close its subsidiary Cathay Dragon, a regional [Hong Kong] carrier flying mainly to mainland China and other Asian destinations,” the broadcaster recalled. “Cathay Pacific and its budget carrier Hong Kong Express took over Cathay Dragon’s routes.”

“The beleaguered carrier also announced it would cut an additional 8,500 jobs, amounting to about a quarter of its staff,” the BBC noted of Cathay Pacific.

Hong Kong Express Airways drafted new employee contracts in December 2020 requiring pilots to accept salary cuts as high as 40 percent, according to the Hong Kong news site HK01.