Last month, IndiGo, India’s biggest airline by market share, made headlines when one of their passengers complained about mosquitoes in the cabin.
A cardiologist had complained about mosquitoes on board an IndiGo flight. He was caught doing so on camera, and the video subsequently went viral on social media. The crew could not arrange for repellents at the time and instead asked Rai if he would want to leave the country since it was full of mosquitoes too. He was subsequently offloaded from the plane by the airline.
However, this was not the first time an airline has faced a mosquito menace. See this video below of an IndiGo flight last year where there are tonnes of mosquitoes in the plane.
The mosquito menace is not unique to IndiGo. Various airports, such as Lucknow, Kolkata, Varanasi, and Chandigarh have faced similar problems during the summers.
Now, IndiGo has decided to give battery-operated mosquito swatters to their staff. These swatters, which look like tennis racquets, will be available on IndiGo flights this month and onwards. There will be two swatters on each plane, and cabin crew will have a set procedure to use them, at any time except when the plane refuels.
As per the airline, the electronic swatters will be used only in exceptional circumstances and not as a regular practice. Preventive measures such as spraying approved insecticides before departure and placing mosquito repellent patches in the aircraft are usually taken.
Bottomline
While a mosquito swatter is a practical solution to the issue at hand, it is also mildly amusing and pioneering. I do not expect these swatters to make it to the plane eventually, or expect them to find them on the airlines shopping catalogue. IndiGo usually does a great job branding everything they do, so I do not know if these will be called 6E Mosquito Bats!
I am just wondering how the airline crew will be working with this new equipment and what is the liability in case someone is injured with these mosquito bats? Or if the mosquitoes drop into someone’s food or drinks. Any thoughts?
Or maybe this is just one big joke that IndiGo is playing on all of us! What do you think?
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