Air India to stop serving non-veg food to economy class passengers

NEW DELHI: National carrier Air India has decided to stop serving non-vegetarian meals to economy class passengers on domestic flights in order to cut costs. “Air India has taken a conscious decision not to have non-vegetarian meal in economy class on its domestic flights to reduce wastage and costs as well as in order to improve catering service,” the airline said in a statement today. However, airline sources said the decision was implemented last month. The new decision will help the airlines to also avoid mix-up similar to that of an incident last year, when ruckus occurred on a Shanghai-Delhi-Mumbai flight of Air India after some passengers complained about being served non-vegetarian food. “A full-service carrier like Air India should not resort to such a measure. Even a low-cost carrier gives the passengers their food options. Air India should have conducted a passenger survey before taking this drastic step, and it should immediately withdraw the decision,” Mahesh Y Reddy, secretary-general of Air Passengers Association of India, told The Hindu. Last year, the loss-making airlines had announced that it will not serve non-vegetarian food to its economy class passengers on flights up to 90 minutes duration as part of its austerity measures. The circular from the national carrier had said, “It has been decided to provide all Indian vegetarian hot meals in economy class on all domestic sector flights between 61 and 90 minutes duration from January 1, 2016.” The decision had evoked angry reactions from passengers and industry experts. (With PTI inputs)