Air India is looking at saving around Rs 8 crore every year by not serving non-vegetarian food in economy class on all domestic flights, said The Hindu report quoting senior officials.
Non-vegetarian meals will continue to be served in business as well as executive class on both domestic and international flights.
Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said that the move, which was implemented in mid-June, will help avoid mix-up of non-veg and veg meals apart from cutting wastage and cost.
It also eliminates the possibility of mix-up: a non-veg meal getting served to a vegetarian passenger, as it had happened a few times in the past.
GP Rao, General Manager of Air India corporate communication, said that the “airline has taken conscious decision not to have non-veg meals in economy class of domestic flights to reduce wastage and improve catering service”.
The national carrier that spends Rs 400 crore on catering every year, has also seen the number of passengers opting for veg meals grow.
Another Air India official told The Hindu:
Generally, we uplift 70 per cent vegetarian meals and 30 percent non-vegetarian meals... However, because of the increasing preference for vegetarian meals, wastage of non-vegetarian meals became high. Also, we run short of vegetarian meals, leading to complaints. So we decided to serve only vegetarian meals in certain sectors
The measure has drawn criticism from Mahesh Y Reddy, Secretary-General of Air Passengers Association of India who said that the airline should’ve “conducted a passenger survey” and that it should “immediately withdraw the decision”.
The airline had stopped providing non-veg food on domestic flights below 90 minutes.
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