Regional party wants Marathi used on Jet Airways flights
30 Nov 2010
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) yesterday asked private carrier Jet Airways to start making announcements in Marathi in addition to the languages it currently uses. Additionally, it has demanded that the carrier show Marathi movies and make available newspapers in Marathi to passengers on flights operating from Mumbai.
''Jet Airways relays its in-flight entertainment programme in most other regional languages in their flights. As they also have their base in Mumbai, the airline should respect the sentiments of people and show in-flight programmes in Marathi,'' said MNS member of Legislative Assembly Nitin Sardesai.
He has also written to the airline suggesting that flight pursers and airhostesses should greet visitors in Marathi.
In his letter to Jet Airways, the MNS leader has pointed to announcements, inflight magazines, newspapers and entertainment as the areas where the airline needed to include Marathi.
Sardesai said Jet had a significant chunk of domestic and international flights out of Mumbai. He added the company was headquartered in Mumbai, but while the airline offered Gujarati, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam programmes, it was found that Marathi was missing.
