IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta on Friday said the company will carry out deep cleaning of aircraft more frequently, stop in-flight meal service for a brief period and fill maximum 50 per cent capacity in airport buses as precautionary measures once the coronavirus lockdown is over and commercial passenger flights are permitted again.
In an email to employees, Dutta said in the current situation, the singular focus is on maintaining cash flow and not on growth and profitability.
'We are examining all our fixed costs and looking for ways to minimize them,' he said.'
IndiGo's plan post lockdown will be to first start the flight services slowly and gradually ramp up the capacity, he said in the email, which has been accessed by PTI.
'We have always been very safety conscious and now we must be health conscious as well. With this in mind, we are looking at changing many of our operating procedures. The new set of procedures have not been finalized yet.
'But we will deep clean our aircraft more frequently, we will be discontinuing meal service for a brief period and we will run our coaches at a maximum load of 50 per cent capacity. We will be coming out with the new set of operating procedures very soon,' Dutta said.
India has imposed a 21-day lockdown till April 14 to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this time period.
However, cargo flights, offshore helicopter operations, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by Indian aviation regulator DGCA are allowed to operate during the lockdown.
IndiGo on Tuesday said it has been authorised by the government to operate 30 emergency relief flights at its own cost to carry essential items such as medical equipment across the country.
As revenues of airlines have fallen drastically, they have introduced various cost cutting measures such as laying off pilots, pay cuts and compulsory leave without pay for employees.
Dutta had announced last month that salaries of senior employees of the airline have been cut by up to 25 per cent.
