Air India recently announced the elimination of meat from its in-flight meals served in economy class.

Economy-class passengers flying the shortest domestic flight with the carrier will soon find meat off the menu, due to Air India’s need to cut costs and reduce waste. The move does not apply to Executive Class passengers. The in-flight status of eggs, which many Indian vegetarians eat, is not clear.

“Air India has taken a conscious decision not to have non-vegetarian meals in economy class on its domestic flights to reduce wastage and costs as well as in order to improve catering service,” said an Air India spokesperson. “It also eliminates the possibility of mix-up: a non-veg meal getting served to a vegetarian passenger, as it had happened a few times in the past.

The decision was met by criticism as a majority of the Hindu population is vegetarian, but India’s sizable Muslim population eats meat. Some suggested the changes were discriminatory, seeing the announcement as an extension of the policies by the India Prime Minister and his Hindu nationalist political party.

About 70 percent of Air India’s flights are domestic. International services and domestic flights more than 90 minutes will continue to serve non-vegetarian meals, but India has the largest population of vegetarians in the world.

The carrier continues to struggle financially as it required a $4.2 billion government bailout in 2012, and is currently in $8 billion of debt.