Emirates takes a U-turn; decides to continue serving Hindu meal on flights

In a U-turn, Gulf carrier Emirates today scrapped its decision to discontinue 'Hindu meal' on its flights citing customer feedback.

The move comes a day after the airline announced that it would stop serving 'Hindu meal' and that Hindu customers can choose from a variety of regionally-inspired vegetarian and special meals.

Emirates is the single largest foreign carrier operating in India in terms of flights.

"Based on feedback from our customers, Emirates confirms we will continue to provide a Hindu meal option, to make it easier for our Hindu customers to identify and request this option," the airline said in a statement today.

According to Emirates, it constantly reviews the offering after taking into consideration customer uptake and feedback.

"Food and drink form an integral part of any Emirates flight experience and our menus are created by leading chefs to reflect the culture and preferences of Emirates' diverse customer base," it noted.

"Emirates has always provided a wide variety of special meals that can be ordered at least 24 hours in advance to cater to our customers with medical or religious dietary requirements, including our Hindu customers," the statement said.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the carrier had said as part of continuous review of the products and services available to customers, it would discontinue the 'Hindu meal' option.

The airline had also said that its Hindu customers can order in advance from a wide variety of regionally-inspired vegetarian and special meals catering to specific dietary requirements in all classes of travel.

"Emirates also offers options of religious meals like Vegetarian Jain Meal, Indian Vegetarian Meal, Kosher meals and Non-Beef non-vegetarian options as well," it had said.

The airline operates flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kochi. Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram, according to its website.