The budget carrier has said that they won’t be leaving the middle seats of the plane unoccupied. GoAir has decided that they will be offering all the seats to the customers. The airline believes that leaving the middle seats empty doesn’t make any difference. The goal of keeping passengers at least one meter away can’t be reached anyway; the two seats are closer than a distance of one meter. GoAir uses Airbus A320ceos and A320neos for its commercial operations.
GoAir To Focus On Other Safety Measures Which Make Sense
The airline said that the move of leaving the middle seat does not make any sense. They would instead focus on solutions which make sense. Social distancing is still a priority for the airline, but it can’t be achieved by leaving the middle seats unoccupied, it would only add to the higher costs per flight and won’t do anything else. GoAir will be focusing on keeping the hygiene of the aircraft and the airport high. The airline will ensure that the use of safety gloves and masks is a must.
SpiceJet Chairman Comments On The Move as Eyewash
The Chairman of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh, commented that the business of keeping the middle seats vacant is nothing but an eyewash. Mr Singh also believes that leaving the middle seats empty would only increase the base fares of flights. On the other hand, DGCA on March 23 had asked the airlines to keep middle seats vacant whenever the flight operations resume. Government of India hasn’t been transparent with their plans for the aviation industry. There are no relief packages offered by the government, nor there is any clear direction as to when the operations can resume and how they should resume. Indian airlines have been asked to stop taking bookings even for the period after May 3, 2020.