Air India to serve only veg meals for economy class passengers

“We have decided to serve vegetarian meals in our economy-class seats on domestic flights,” said Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani in the report.

The airline will, however, continue to serve non-vegetarian meals in its business class and executive class seats on all domestic and international flights.

It will also continue to give vegetarian and non-vegetarian meal options to economy fliers on flights of over 90-minute duration.

News 18 quoted BJP leader Syed Zafar Islam, a non-official independent director of Air India, as having denied any “political interference” in the decision.

“There is no political interference in this decision. The decision has been taken by the airline and there is no political interference," he said.

The move, however, has evoked sharp reactions from politicians and passengers.

Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah tweeted :

"How much effort does it require to differentiate between colour coded stickers that say "Veg" & "Non Veg ?"

Celebrity chef Madhu Menon is more caustic on his tweeter handle : "Only veg food on Air India.
Next, flight attendants to speak only Hindi.After that, stand for national anthem before flight take-off."

Journalist Veena Venugopal tweeted : "Air India is unable to sort veg and non-veg boxes accurately. But is to be trusted to fly people."

D Sudhakar Reddy, President of the Air Passengers Association of India, termed it as “discriminatory”.

“This is not acceptable. The airline is discriminating among passengers in the same aircraft. It’s division based on class. We will take this issue up with the authorities,” Reddy told CNN-News18.