Air Canada has so far donated nearly 2,500 kg of unneeded fresh food from its in-flight kitchens after the airline decided to switch to pre-packaged snacks on all of its flights. The airline said items like fresh vegetables, salads, sandwich wraps, muffins and milk had already been donated to charities across seven Canadian cities and more will follow in the coming days.
Last week, Air Canada axed the majority of its in-flight service in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. Many passengers on shorter flights won’t now receive anything apart from a bottle of water, while passengers on the few remaining long-haul flights only get pre-packaged long-life food items.
The airline said it decided to work with Canadian ‘food rescue’ charity Second Harvest after realising that much of the fresh kept in its kitchens would soon go to waste. The waste was soon to mount after Air Canada decided to suspend nearly all international and transborder flights.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to Air Canada cancelling the majority of its flights and has, in turn, forced the carrier to temporarily lay-off half of its 10,000 strong flight attendant workforce.
Air Canada’s chief executive Calin Rovinescu, said travel restrictions imposed by many countries, including Canada, were having a “cataclysmic effect” on the airline industry.
In recent days, the airline has been running repatriation flights to get stranded Canadians back home and wants to continue offering some international flights to key markets over the next few months.
