IndiGo's inclusivity initiative; brings introduces gender-neutral option while booking

Ease of travel, convenience and speed along with safety continue to be top priority for passengers while travelling by air, as per the latest Global Passenger Survey by International Air Transport Association. 

Banking on this observation, and a part of its larger efforts to boost inclusivity IndiGo is going a step ahead to introduce a gender-neutral option of honorific 'Mx'. This option will available for passengers while booking the tickets, providing a choice especially for transgenders who do not want to identify themselves.

As of now, only 'male' and 'female' are the options available on the airline's website during the booking process. Air India Express and Vistara already offer the 'Mx' option for passengers at the time of booking tickets.

Sukhjit S Pasricha, group chief human resources officer, said: "IndiGo has also implemented various initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community." 

Some of these include employee referral programmes specifically designed to encourage hiring of LGBTQ+ individuals. In order to bolster the process, IndiGo has partnered with various agencies specializing in LGBTQ+ recruitment. 

The airline claims that this has strengthened candidate mobilisation through internal resources and fostered a more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ employees.

IndiGo also offers various benefits like gender reassignment surgery and inclusion of live-in partners in the medical insurance. This has led to a steady induction of LGBTQ+ individuals working in various departments in IndiGo. 

Apart from this, as a part of its wider employee-friendly environment initiative, IndiGo is planning to increase the number of employees with disability by two-fold. 

As of now, IndiGo boasts of having 240+ individuals with disabilities across 60+ cities in customer facing roles. 

"The placement of individuals with disabilities is determined based on multiple factors, including safety, accommodation requirements, skill mapping and prioritise merit-based hiring," Pasricha added.

Just recently, IndiGo introduced a new feature during web check-in that allowed female passengers to see which seats have been pre-booked by other female passengers, to make the journey more comfortable for women passengers travelling solo.