Airlines in India are all set to make the International Women’s Day special for women, both staffers and customers.

Air India has announced all-women flights to commemorate the day, while SpiceJet is conducting an exclusive recruitment drive for women pilots. Vistara, on the other hand, has announced a one-day sale offering all-inclusive fares starting at Rs 1,099, while IndiGo too has some offers for its women flyers.

On March 8, an all-women crew will fly an Air India passenger aircraft on the Chennai-Colombo-New Delhi route, according to the national carrier. The passenger aircraft will be piloted by Capt V Roopa and Capt Nimisha Goel, it is learnt.

“The airline has planned several flights on its domestic and international sectors operated only by its women employees to salute woman power. Air India will fly these all-women crew flights to all the USA cities it operates to — San Francisco, New York, Newark, Chicago and Washington DC — besides destinations like Milan, Frankfurt and Singapore. A few destinations in the domestic sector will also see the airline operating with an all-women crew,” said a release from the airline.

It already operated a flight with an all-women cockpit and cabin crew on the Kolkata-Dimapur-Kolkata route on Sunday.

SpiceJet meanwhile started a recruitment drive for women pilots Wednesday as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations. The airline said the recruitment drive was for its Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400 fleet, according to a release.

The two-day recruitment programme apparently saw more than 175 applications. The release said women pilots were offered special contracts allowing them to fly at their own convenience. On March 8, SpiceJet plans to operate three special flights with all-women cockpit and cabin crew.

SpiceJet said interviews were taking place at the airline’s training academy in Gurgaon.

In a 24-hour sale on International Women’s Day on Thursday, Vistara is offering domestic flight tickets starting from Rs 1,099. The ‘celebratory sale’ would be for 24 hours only, from 00:01 hrs to 23:59 hrs on March 8, for travel between March 16 and October 10, 2018, Vistara said. Seats on sale are limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, the airline said in an official statement.

The cheapest fare of Rs 1,099 (all-inclusive) is for Chennai to Kochi, Jammu to Srinagar, and Guwahati to Bagdogra flights (economy). A Delhi-Chandigarh and Delhi-Lucknow Vistara economy class flight ticket is priced at Rs. 1,199. There is also a sale for premium economy and business class seats.

While the sale is open to all, there will be additional Club Vistara benefits for women customers. “The airline will award 1000 bonus Club Vistara points to all its women frequent flyer members if they book tickets on March 8, 2018,” Vistara said in a relelase.

“We are very excited to celebrate this special day with our women flyers and colleagues. Whatever little we’re doing is just to say a big ‘thank you’ to all of them for inspiring us and the world to be better in every small and big way. As a gender-neutral organisation, we want to celebrate this occasion with our male flyers as well, and so we’re launching a special sale offering extremely attractive fares that all our customers can avail to plan their holidays in advance,” said Deepa Chadha, Senior Vice President – HR, Corporate Affairs, Vistara.
Bookings under the special celebratory sale can be made on www.airvistara.com, Vistara’s iOS and Android mobile apps, at Vistara’s airport ticket offices, through Vistara’s call centre, and through online travel agencies and travel agents.

Vistara will be additionally offering a slew of benefits for women customers flying on Women’s Day. These are complimentary one-class upgrade to all solo women flyers, subject to availability upon check-in, priority boarding (“First to board”) for all women travellers, and mementos for women customers and staff.

The airline will have celebrations at airports and at Vistara’s corporate office to mark two of its initiatives, #WomenWhoMakeUsFly and #VistaraWomanFlyer, which were launched on the Women’s Day in 2016 and 2017, respectively. While the former celebrates women in aviation working across all domains, the latter gained global recognition for assuring solo women customers that they will not be assigned a middle seat with Vistara, as well as the option of an arrival and local transportation assistance to women customers available on request.

“Our customers can pre-select their preferred seats during booking, after booking through the ‘manage my booking’ feature, as well as during web check-in. Even if the woman traveler has not pre-selected a preferred seat in advance, we will ensure only a window or aisle seat is assigned at check-in. In addition, uniformed Vistara staff will be available at the baggage claim area holding #VistaraWomanFlyer Arrivals Assistance placards, to assist women travelers with their luggage and with the booking of airport-authorized taxis, as well as escort such customers up to the taxi stand upon their request,” the airline says on the #VistaraWomanFlyer initiative.

#VistaraWomanFlyer is an optional complimentary service for female customers travelling alone or with children on a Vistara flight, the website clarifies. As per the scheme, Vistara staff are present in the baggage claim area for all arriving flights, holding a “#VistaraWomanFlyer Assistance” placard, and can be approached if assistance is required.The service includes luggage assistance upon arrival, arranging a taxi from airport authorised taxi providers and Vistara staff escorting the customer till the taxi stand.

Meanwhile, IndiGo has come out with a scheme, #WowHerVoucher, for its women flyers.
“Surprise the special woman of your life by gifting her IndiGo Gift Vouchers and get upto Rs 1200 off. Use promo code 6EWOM,” says the airline’s website. Additional MobiKwik vouchers worth Rs 500 each are also up for grabs.
The offer is open for customers purchasing IndiGo gift vouchers in any denomination ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 only through IndiGo’s website (www.goindigo.in) between March 7 and March 8, 2018.

Customers upon using promo code 6EWOM will be eligible for discount of 8 per cent on the total value of the voucher. Each IndiGo gift voucher will be valid for nine months.
MobiKwik Systems Pvt. Ltd will additionally issue MobiKwik SuperCash vouchers worth Rs 500 on purchase of IndiGo gift vouchers during the promotion period.