The move, the officials said, would help save as much as Rs20 crore a year.
Air India passengers flying on short-haul routes would now on get heavy snacks instead of hot meals being served earlier, as part of cost-cutting measures being carried out by the cash-strapped national carrier.
On flights of less than 90-minute duration, the airline now plans to provide snack boxes containing sandwiches, pastries and a few other items, its officials said.
Passengers would continue to get hot meals on flights which are more than the duration of one-and-a-half hours, they said.
The move, the officials said, would help save as much as Rs20 crore a year.
The proposal was among several other cost-cutting measures mooted at the AI Board meeting yesterday which received a go-ahead.
The national carrier registered a loss of Rs5,548.26 crore during 2008-09, Rs5,552.44 crore during 2009-2010 and Rs6,994 crore (provisional) during 2010-11.
After RBI and a 13-banks consortium approved its debt restructuring plan, the Board also gave its nod to a proposal to go in for sale-and-leaseback option for Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes instead of their outright purchase.
The Board, which reviewed Air India's operations and the implementation of its turnaround programme and Financial Restructuring Plan, also decided to lease out excess capacity of two Boeing 747-400 planes and some 777-200 LR aircraft after the Dreamliners were inducted.
As per AI's plans, the acquisition of 14 of the 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliners that will join its fleet by 2014 is likely to be made through sale-and-leaseback.
Sale-and-leaseback or leaseback in short is a financial transaction where one sells an asset and leases it back for the long-term. Hence, one is able to use the asset continuosly but does not own it.
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