NEW DELHI: , MAY 08,
IndiGo will use electronic mosquito bats to deal with mosquito menace on-board flights, according to the airline amid rising passenger complaints about the problem.
In recent times, there have been instances of passengers complaining about mosquito problem inside flights.
The no-frills carrier on Monday said it would “use electronic mosquito bats to minimise the discomfort to passengers caused by mosquitoes”.
This would be in addition to preventive measures such as spraying of the approved aircraft insecticide before departure, placing mosquito repellent patches in the aircraft, the airline said in a statement.
“However, the electronic mosquito bats will be used only in exceptional circumstances and not as a regular practice,” it added.
The move also comes less than a month after the Civil Aviation Ministry ordered a probe into the incident of a doctor being allegedly manhandled and offloaded from an IndiGo flight at Lucknow airport after he complained of mosquitoes on-board even as the airline maintained there was no physical altercation.
Cardiologist Saurabh Rai had accused the airline of manhandling and deboarding him from the Bengaluru-bound flight on Monday and said he would take “legal recourse” against the no-frills carrier.
Then, IndiGo in a statement had said there was no physical altercation.
As Dr. Rai started complaining about mosquitoes inside the aircraft, the lead cabin attendant tried to pacify Dr. Rai and even showed the two used empty cans of the approved aircraft insecticide as well as the mosquito repellant patches, the airline had said on April 10.
“Given the mosquito menace in some of the stations in hot weather every year, as the standard operating procedure, we spray the aircraft with an approved aircraft insecticide prior to boarding. In fact, on this aircraft, the aircraft insecticide was sprayed twice. We also put mosquito repellant patches under our aircraft seats,” the airline had said.
