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Qantas to shelve its duty free shopping in the sky

Qantas passengers, be sure to purchase all your tax-free goods while you're still on land because the airline is said to be scrapping its in-flight duty-free program.

Qantas passengers, be sure to purchase all your tax-free goods while you’re still on land because the airline is said to be scrapping its in-flight duty-free program.

KarryOn has contacted Qantas to confirm the news, but according to reports, the In Sky Shopping program will be discontinued because it no longer sits with “retail buying patterns”.

That makes sense when you consider Australians are spending over $32 billion online every year. Also, when was the last time you saw someone actually purchase something from in-flight duty-free?

Image: Qantas

Image: Qantas

Pat Osborne from Alpha Flight Services, which manages the Flying Kangaroo’s duty-free system, talked about the airline’s decision, saying Qantas is “taking the opportunity to realign their retail channels in response to changes in customer demand”.

He added that although he was initially surprised by the move, it sits in line with changes occurring in Australian retail over the last two years.

“There has been a lot of pressure on retailers with online ordering,” he said.

Qantas tail feature

Pat continued, explaining that there’s also less room these days for airlines to carry duty-free product as galley space is being reduced to fit more food and water.

No doubt cabin crew will be happy too as it’s the least most desirable job in-flight and usually handed to the more junior cabin crew.

The In Sky Shopping Duty-Free is expected to end on 1 January 2018.

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What are your thoughts on the removal of inflight duty-free shopping inflight?