Air India is the third largest airline in India in terms of passengers carried after jet airways and indigo. Recently, the airline faced multiple cases of in-flight misbehavior. Furthermore, one male passenger molests the flight attendant on board. Next, one male flier gropes a female passenger while she was asleep.
Therefore, the carrier has come up with new decision of reserving 6 seats for female passengers in the economy class.
From 18th January, 2017 the economy class cabins will have 6 seats for the women passengers in airbus A320 aircraft. These seats are for those women who don’t want to be seated near the male passengers. There is no extra charge for these seats. The seats are exclusively for the female passengers who travel alone.
The airline will also keep plastic handcuffs on board so as to restrain unruly passengers. This is basically for the “totally out of control” situation. Before, the handcuffs used to be present in international flights. Now, airline feels the need to comfort the female passengers.
This type of offering “only female” already exists in many modes of transport in India. There are separate female coaches and seats in the Delhi metro. Air India is the first airline to offer “female-only” seats.
The national president of air passengers association is opposing the plan. He says that it is an impractical move and will only lead to gender discrimination.
There are many controversies as well for this decision taken by the carrier. Surprisingly, the same airline warns 600 cabin crew members to lose weight otherwise they will be out. In 2015, the airline fired 125 overweight cabin crew members. The reason is to maintain good level of fitness for safety reasons.
In addition,Air India has a mixed record of gender equality. In 2016, on International Women’s Day, it becomes the longest flight in history completely staffed by women.
