NEW DELHI: A mail sent by mistake had created confusion about meals served to Air India pilots. The order had asked the flight caterer to serve only vegetarian meals in the aircraft. However, the order was immediately withdrawn as officials claimed that it had been sent by mistake.
Sources with the national carrier said that the instance occurred on July 10, when an e-mail from the catering division disclosed that meals for Air India pilots would be vegetarian with immediate effect.
Incidentally, the national carrier, which is going through a cash crunch, had last year stopped serving non-vegetarian meals in the economy class on domestic flights as a cost-cutting measure, which led to savings of about Rs8 crore annually. Non-vegetarian meals continue to be served in business class on domestic flights and in all classes on AI’s international flights.
An AI official said that in this particular case there might have been some mistake. He said that there were arrangements for separate meals for pilots and crew members in aircraft of all airlines. The mail was immediately withdrawn, added the official.
Air India has been facing a cash crunch for long and many initiatives have been taken by the management to cope with it in recent times. The national carrier has also requested cash infusion from the government as its employees were not getting their salaries regularly.