Coronavirus Scare: IndiGo to discontinue meal services on board after lockdown

New Delhi : IndiGo, India’s largest airlines, has decided to end its on-board meal services and operate with a maximum of 50% occupancy after the lockdown ends.

The nationwide lockdown which was announced on March 25 to break the chain of spreading coronavirus is likely to be lifted in phased manner.

The airline’s chief executive officer Ronojoy Dutta in a letter to its employees talked about the company’s current focus and ‘tentative plans for the immediate future’.

He mentioned that the focus will be on cash flow and ‘examining all our fixed costs and looking for ways to minimize them’.

"The new set of procedures has not been finalized yet. But we will deep clean our aircraft more frequently, will discontinue meal services for a brief period and run our coaches at a maximum load of 50 per cent. We will come out with the new set of protocols very soon," Dutta also said in the mail. 

DGCA has set new norms of social distancing which need to be followed when the operation of ailines resumes in India. The aviation regulator before the lockdown was clamped issued protocols mandating airlines to keep the middle seat and last three rows empty.

From requesting flyers to keep a distance of minimum one metre at check-in counters, waiting areas and during security checks, the regulatory body also asked authorities to provide sanitisers for staff and passengers at the aircraft gates.

The staff was also advised to keep a healthy distance from the passengers while assisting them.