IndiGo to use electronic bats to fight mosquitos

As more and more complaints pour in, IndiGo has decided to use electronic mosquito bats to deal with mosquito menace onboard flights.

The airline said it would "use electronic mosquito bats to minimise the discomfort to passengers caused by mosquitoes".

This would be in addition to preventive measures such as spraying of the approved insecticide before departure, placing mosquito repellent patches in the aircraft. "However, the electronic mosquito bats will be used only in exceptional circumstances and not as a regular practice," the airline has said in a statement.

The moves close on the heels of a controversy over the offloading of a Bengaluru-based surgeon Saurabh Rai from an IndiGo flight in Lucknow following an altercation after he complained about the presence of mosquitoes inside the plane. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had ordered a probe into the incident after he complained of mosquitoes onboard even as the airline maintained there was no physical altercation.

"Given the mosquito menace in some of the stations in hot weather every year, as the standard operating procedure, we spray the aircraft with an approved aircraft insecticide prior to boarding. In fact, on this aircraft, the aircraft insecticide was sprayed twice. We also put mosquito repellent patches under our aircraft seats," the airline had then said.

Soon after the incident involving Rai surfaced, IndiGo was at the receiving end with fliers tweeting complaints about mosquito menace in the flights. It had apologised to some of the passengers.

IndiGo had also argued that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has prohibited disinfectant fumigation in aircraft while passengers are onboard. "This prohibition is currently under appeal," it had said.