No more hot meals for crew of SpiceJet, will get Rs 300 instead

NEW DELHI: Low cost carrier SpiceJet has on a trial basis stopped taking hot meals for crew on its flights and will instead give cabin crew and pilots operating domestic flights a daily allowance of Rs 300 so that they can have hot meals at airport terminals or buy on board. The crew have been told if they “want to have a hot meal (or any other snack), they may buy the same from the cart using their meal allowance.”

The airline insists the move is not to cut costs but to stop wastage as the allowance is costing it more than serving meals to crew. “We are trying this for a month. If the move is not appreciated, we will revert to the old model. The idea was to curb wastage.” Lunch often is taken on board, say from Delhi in the morning. If it gets stale, it goes to waste, a source said.

A mail sent by SpiceJet chief pilot Captain S K Dabral to crew says: “Statistical data compiled over last many months has shown that a vast majority of our crew (both cockpit and cabin) are not eating hot meals earmarked for them. In some months, up to 90% of the uplifted hot meals have gone waste.”