This domestic airline gives no middle seats to women

new delhi — In a country where women travellers face myriad dangers, one Indian airline has an idea: Chivalry, and no middle seats.

With its Woman Flyer service, Vistara has begun offering to help women flying solo with their bags, escort them to and from their ground transportation, and give them preferred window and aisle seats on their flights, no middles. The New Delhi-based airline says between 75 and 100 women use the complimentary service each day. It is believed to be the first airline to offer such a service.

Sanjiv Kapoor, Vistara’s chief strategy and commercial officer, said the airline began offering it after noticing women seeking help after their planes had landed. “Our staff is equipped to help women travelling alone with the booking of airport-authorised taxis, as well as escort them to the airport taxi stand upon their request,” Kapoor said via email.

“This service is a sincere effort to ensure peace of mind of our women customers.”

India is forecast to become the world’s sixth-largest business travel market by 2019, according to the Global Business Travel Association, but it’s gained an international reputation for being unsafe for

Our staff is equipped to help women travelling alone with the booking of airport-authorised taxis, as well as escort them to the airport taxi stand upon their request Sanjiv Kapoor, Vistara’s chief startegy and commercial officer

women, particularly since the brutal 2012 gang rape, torture, and murder of a medical student attacked on a public bus in New Delhi.

In its notices to Americans about traveling to India, the US State Department is blunt on the danger of sexual assault: “US citizens, particularly women, are cautioned not to travel alone in India.”

In efforts to combat sexual assault and harassment on public transit, officials from Kolkata to Mexico City to Leipzig, Germany, have tried offering separate train cars and buses reserved for women and children.

While women-only transportation zones have shown some success and proven popular among some passengers, they’ve also been criticized for implying that women must be segregated in order not to be harassed.

Vistara, meanwhile, hopes to extend its new service for women to international flights once it expands outside of India.

In May, Bloomberg News reported that the airline, which flies an all-Airbus A320 domestic fleet, was seeking to recruit pilots trained on Boeing Co. aircraft, a signal the carrier is considering leasing or buying Boeing jets for longer-haul routes outside the country.

Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd owns 51 per cent of Vistara, which began flying in January 2015; Singapore Airlines Ltd. controls the rest. — Bloomberg