Airlines lure fasting fliers with special meals

With the festival of Navratri having commenced on Saturday, airlines are pulling out all stops to lure passengers with the offers of food that one can savour even during fasts. Go Air is offering passengers a wide variety of fasting dishes including sabudana khichadi, sabudana vada with curd, kuttu ka dosa, namkeen makhana, singhare ka samosa chat, puri bhaji and rice dhokla. Not to be left behind, national carrier Air India is providing a spread of fruits — makhana kheer, jeera aalu and sabudana tikki with curd — to passengers travelling in north-bound flights. These special delicacies are being offered for both lunch and dinner.

Go Air, a low cost carrier, has initiated pre-booking of fasting food for its passengers where they can opt for the food menu while booking the seats. Air India on the other hand has come up with full-time meal services for their lunch and dinner menu.

Sources confirmed that Jet Airways too is in the process of introducing delicacies from Kolkata for their “fasting” fliers. An Air India official said that experts however are of the view that this is just a way to attract more people to the airline. An Air India official confirmed that they would include a special menu from October 6 on all flights departing from Kolkata.

Aviation expert, Vipul Saxena, said, “The initiative taken by airlines is innovative. This will make passengers feel at home even while travelling. A few airlines in other countries too like Virginia Airlines follow such schemes to attract passengers. Such initiatives can be very effective in retaining existing customers and attracting new customers.”