India’s largest airline by passengers is giving its staff mosquito swatters after repeated complaints

• Indigo plans to annihilate the pesky mosquitos that have added to the airline’s woes.
• The crew will be given two mosquito-swatting bats per plane.
• Indigo currently accounts for about 40% of the domestic market share.

One of India’s most awarded airlines, Indigo Airlines, has been losing its sheen with numerous instances of staff misbehaving with customers, flight delays, engine glitches and more. However, there is one issue they plan to address with full gusto and that’s to annihilate the pesky mosquitos that have added to the airline’s woes. For this, soon the Indigo crew will be wielding mosquito-swatting bats (yes, the ones that look like tennis rackets) to take care of the menace in planes.

Just last month, a doctor was apparently forcibly removed from an Indigo flight at Lucknow when he raised a stink about the number of mosquitoes on the plane. According to Saurabh Rai, a cardiologist, when he raised the issue he was told mosquitoes are all over India, “so will you leave the country?”

The airline, however, denied this and said Rai had used threatening language. Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu took note of the incident and launched a probe, but what happened after that has not been shared with the public.

Indigo currently accounts for about 40% of the domestic market share, and cannot afford to lose customers and its reputation on account of mosquitoes. An airline official who wished not to be named told the Economic Times that, "There have been a number of passenger complaints. Our flights also get delayed. So, we have decided to use these [swatters]."

From this month onwards, two battery-operated mosquito swatters will be on the flights. The cabin crew will be given precise instructions on when and how to use these devices. An IndiGo spokesperson said, “The electronic bats [swatters] will be used only in exceptional circumstances and not as a regular practice.” She also added that they have taken other measures, like spraying the cabins with approved insecticides before departure and placing mosquito repellent patches in aircraft.