Now Keralites aboard the Air India Express can savour delicious cuisines from Kerala. As part of its initiatives to step up customer relations, the airline will serve Kerala cuisines on flights from this month.
Air India chairman Rohit Nandan had recently directed the officials of the airline to review the meals being served on board.
Now passengers on board can enjoy dishes, including ‘idiyappam’ and ‘kadala’, ‘thattu dosa’ and ‘sambar’, ghee rice, vegetable curries and vegetable biryani from January 1. Cheese sandwiches would be replaced with vegetable ‘kathi’ rolls on all flights, in addition to banana chips and peanuts.
Sweets like muffins and coconut burfi would also be served on board.
“We are confident that the improvements will be appreciated by our passengers,” said Air India Express chief operating officer Ansbert D’Souza.
Food served on board will be supplied by Casino Group in Kochi and Kozhikode, Muthoot Hotels Division in Thiruvananthapuram and the Taj Group of Hotels in Mangalore. Onboard announcements in Malayalam is another feature that would be added in 2013.
Deputy COO Capt Pushpinder Singh said that the airline would reach out to its passenger base in Kerala. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal informed that announcements in Malayalam would begin at on flights from Kerala.
On New Year’s day, the passengers would be greeted in Malayalam, in addition to normal inflight announcements,” he added.