An airline has become the first in the world to allow women to have a say in who they are sat next to.
Female passengers can choose to be seated alongside other women if being around men makes them feel uncomfortable.
Airline IndiGo have become the first airline to make the changes to allow women the option of staying away from men during their flights, with a view to make passengers feel as safe as possible.
The new measure, which is the first of its kind in the global aviation industry, has changed the way females book seats on upcoming flights.
The booking process grants women the ability to see the gender of other passengers sat near them who have already selected seats, and enables them to move and choose to sit next to another woman if they prefer.
Men, however, are not shown this information and can only see available seats left on the plane as a whole.
IndiGo is India’s largest low-cost airline, and said they will make the changes from August 2024 on all of its flights. It operates 2,000 domestic and international flights a day.
The flight group said the idea for the policy change came from an IndiGo survey, which asked women what would make travel more comfortable.
IndiGo said in a statement: “IndiGo is proud to announce the introduction of a new feature that aims to make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers. This has been introduced based on market research, and is currently in pilot mode aligning with our #GirlPower ethos.”
“We are committed to providing an unparalleled travel experience for all our passengers, and this new feature is just one of the many steps we are taking towards achieving that goal,” the airline added.
While it is the first airline to introduce this policy, trains and buses in India already allow women to book seats next to other women.
IndiGo also flies to London Heathrow as part of its available flight paths, and has said it plans to introduce a business class section on flights in the next year.
