Airlines won’t be asked to remove middle seats: Civil aviation minister

The government will not ask airlines to remove middle seats in order to increase social distancing, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said in an interview to ET Now.

“Removing the middle seat is not part of the discussion because no one is recommending that..You still don’t have physical distance after removing the middle seat. Removing middle seat is not an idea I would pursue,” Puri said.

This could mean that when airlines, which already run-on wafer-thin margins in a bid to attract higher load factor, will be allowed to retain the number of seats after airlines resume services.