Air India cuts costs: Only snacks on short-haul flights

Cash-starved Air India (AI) said it will be following the industry practice on in-flight catering services on all short-haul economy class flights from tomorrow, which will see the national carrier offering only pre-packed snacks and not full meals as done earlier.

"In line with the industry practice, AI has decided to revise the on-board catering services in the economy class for short duration domestic flights with effect from February 1," the airline said in a statement.

For flights up to one hour duration, the service will be of pre-packed dry snacks, water and juice in tetra packs. Coffee/tea will be served on request, it said.

For flights up to 90 minutes duration, the service will be of snack boxes containing of sandwiches, brownie and water in addition to coffee/tea, the statement said.

However, the present on-board catering service will continue for the passengers in the executive class on all flights. The present hot meal/catering services will continue on board all domestic flights of more than 90 minutes duration, both in economy and executive classes, it said.

The airline is grappling with around Rs 65,000-crore debts and has not been paying its 32,000 employees salaries for the past two months and incentives for the past five months. This forced a section of the pilots and cabin crew members to go on a flash strike early this month.