Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday has released the new airline guidelines on domestic flights. Ministry has warned that any passenger who refuses to wear a face mask in a flight can be put on the no-fly list by the airline.
The airline and its cabin crew are sufficiently empowered under the existing DGCA rules to take action in this regard, the official added.
The period for which such flyers would be barred from flying would depend on the cabin crew’s assessment of the gravity of unruly behaviour. So far we have not heard about any case of such defiance, said a senior official of the aviation regulator DGCA.
Centre has allowed airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights depending on the travel time, and hot meals on international flights. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, as a precautionary measure, in-flight meal services were not permitted on domestic flights ever since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May.
Domestic flights and passengers are likely to increase in the upcoming days as Kolkata partially lifts restrictions on flights from six cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Domestic flights resumed in India on May 25 after a gap of two months given the pandemic. However, airlines are allowed to operate 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.
Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23. However, special international flights have been operating under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with various countries
