Air India has stopped serving non-vegetarian meals in economy class on short domestic flights.
The news came two weeks after the government agreed on disinvestment of Air India. With this move, the debt laden airline aims to save about ₹8 crore from its ₹400 crore annual catering expense. Air India has an accumulated debt of over ₹50,000 crore.
“This is an attempt to rationalise costs. We have also realised that this will reduce wastage to a great extent because we carry extra vegetarian and non-veg meals,” says Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of Air India.
All international flights and domestic flights that last more than 90 minutes will continue to serve non-vegetarian meals to their passengers.
Other cost cutting tips by Air India’s staff members that have been doing the rounds include the reduction of the number of inflight magazines and the elimination of salads from the meals of economy class passengers.
Air India was formed by JRD Tata in 1932 when it was known as Tata Airlines. In 1946 it became a public limited company under the name of Air India.
