Qantas returns to selling smokes in flight

Sydney -- Australian airline Qantas has reintroduced duty-free cigarette sales on board its international flights, provoking concern from health groups, sources said.

A recent company letter to flight attendants asked them to "prominently display" cigarettes on carts that offer passengers duty-free items, The Age, a Melbourne newspaper, reported.

Qantas said the move was not linked to the appointment of Paul Rayner, a former British American Tobacco Australasia chief executive, who was appointed Tuesday to a non-executive director position with the airline.

Passengers had requested the return of cigarettes to its in-flight sales offerings, Qantas said.

Several groups decried the decision, including Quit Victoria, who called the move a "greedy cash grab."

Others said the decision flew in the face of the airline's support of a Canteen, a children's cancer charity, the Age reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.