IndiGo to change seat cushioning, food menu; hot meals not on radar

NEW DELHI: IndiGo has finally taken note of pet peeves of its passengers — very lightly padded seats and food menu. The airline, which flies almost one in every two domestic flyers, is “doing something about the food that should reflect very soon,” said IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta. However, the food will remain cold and retain the keep-hot-water-in-cup-for-six-minutes options.
“Food choice will be increased.The menu will reflect more options. However, our planes don’t have oven needed to warm food. Ovens cost too much and being heavy increase fuel burn. We are a low cost company and have to keep offering lower fares. We are looking at options for seat cushioning too,” Dutta, or Rono as he is known as in the industry, said.
IndiGo is yet to take a call on having in-seat charger for passengers’ personal electronic devices (PED). After the less than memorable experience to passengers on the medium haul (almost 6-hour-long) Delhi-Istanbul-Delhi flights on the Airbus A320 Neos, the airline will now likely start direct flights to Europe, London only when its gets the A321 XLRs (extra long range).
Rono said IndiGo will fly medium and long haul passengers on its own flight and with the code shares on Turkish and Qatar Airways. On Thursday, IndiGo signed a one-way codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways that will begin with Qatar putting its code on IndiGo flights between Doha and Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad from December 18, 2019.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “We are extremely proud to secure this strategic partnership with Indigo, the largest airline in one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets. We believe this agreement will be just the first step in strengthening our relationship and we very much look forward to working together to harness our complementary strengths and resources, to enhance the travel experience for our passengers around the world.”
Rono equated starting medium to longhaul international routes to going on a battle. “It is a cold, dark and hostile world. One never goes to a war alone. We are choosing our friends (code share partners) carefully.”
Qatar Airways currently operates 102 weekly flights between Doha and 13 destinations in India, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram. IndiGo has 10 daily flights between seven Indian cities and Doha. Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad have a double daily IndiGo to Doha.