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Ashwini Phadnis

SPIRITED TRAVEL

New Delhi March 15 If the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has its way, air passengers may soon be able to enjoy wine or beer on domestic flights.

The issue of providing wine or beer, either free or at a price, on domestic flights was raised at a recent FIA meeting held earlier this week.

FIA is the newly formed club of the domestic airlines, charged with the task of presenting a composite industry view to Government.

"The FIA members did not seem averse to the idea of serving these products to the passengers. In fact, some of the expatriates working here pointed out that this was a common practice in other parts of the world even on domestic flights," an official present at the meeting said.

Currently, sale and consumption of alcohol on domestic flights is prohibited by a Government order.

However, this was not the case till about a decade ago when airlines were allowed to serve alcohol on domestic flights.

Following unruly behaviour by a passenger travelling by a now defunct airline, the Government withdrew this permission.

After having discussed the matter among themselves, the FIA members raised it at their meeting with the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, on Tuesday.

Sources said that after apprising the Minister of their confabulations at the earlier in-house meeting, FIA President Mr V. Thulasidas told Mr Patel that "another member wanted to talk about something else."

Then the idea of serving alcohol on domestic flights was presented to Mr Patel, who listened but made no comments, according to those present.

While for the moment the Government is silent on the issue, a favourable decision could take the domestic aviation sector to a greater high, said an airline official.

More Stories on : Airlines | Industry Associations | Strategy | Breweries

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