Vistara to provide free sanitary pads on request on domestic flights from Women's International Day tomorrow

Starting International Women’s Day tomorrow (8 March, 2019), Vistara will provide sanitary pads onboard its flights to women travellers on request, the airline said on Wednesday. This initiative makes Vistara the first Indian airline to offer sanitary pads on flights within India. The airline will provide ISO 9001:2015 certified, bio-degradable and organic sanitary napkins made from plant-based fibres that are free of plastic, toxins and perfume, according to a company statement. From this Friday, the full-service carrier’s cabin crew will make in-flight announcements on all flights to create awareness that sanitary pads are now available on board for customers to freely ask for it if they need it. Commenting on the initiative, Deepa Chadha, Senior Vice President—HR & Corporate Affairs, said: “The initiative to provide sanitary pads to our customers is a meaningful one that reflects our core philosophy that ‘small things make a big difference’. As a woman, I feel a greater sense of pride for being part of an organization that’s providing such an essential amenity to customers – something that will help so many travellers in times of need.” [caption id=“attachment_2766402” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The introduction of #PadsOnBoard is part of Vistara’s focus on services and amenities for women travellers, adding to #VistaraWomanFlyer service that was launched in 2017 to provide certain benefits and peace of mind to solo women travelers. Together, these products and services will come under the ‘Vistara for Women’ service umbrella, as Vistara continues to lead the way on this front in India. To celebrate International Women’s Day, all-women crew and pilots will operate retro-themed flights on the #VistaraRetroJet between Delhi and Goa on 8 March. The cabin crew on these flights will be dressed in limited-edition retro-style uniforms, and customers will be invited to dress retro as well, and will be welcomed with memorabilia and served special dishes. Vistara has a 3.8-per cent share in the domestic passenger market, as per the January data of aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, a PTI report said. The airline had recently announced the launch of services to Raipur and Dibrugarh (Assam), taking its destinations served to 24 with a fleet of 22  Airbus A320 aircraft operating over 800 flights a week.