COVID: Civil Aviation Ministry permits resumption of meals & magazines on domestic flights

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday, November 16 said that it has allowed airlines to serve meals to all domestic flights without any restraints. The decision was taken into consideration as India has been witnessing a significant drop in COVID cases and with proper implementation of COVID protocols.

The Ministry had on April 15 this year barred aircraft carriers from serving meals on flights, which maintained a travel duration of less than two hours, owing to COVID constraints. 

“The airlines operating flights on domestic sectors may provide meal services onboard, without restriction on duration of the flight,” as per the Ministry statement.

Resumption of magazines, reading material permitted

The Ministry has also given a green signal to the resumption of magazines and reading materials for passengers on domestic flights, the order noted.

The order further maintained, "the decision to resume meals and magazines has been taken as 'Covid caseload' and has reduced due to 'proper implementation' of appropriate Covid behaviour protocol."

The Civil Aviation Ministry had on November 13 stated that crew members on a flight need not wear coveralls but should continue to wear gloves, masks, and face shields.

The Ministry had permitted transporters to serve in-flights under specific provisions when scheduled domestic flight services were brought to normalcy on May 25 last year after the COVID-induced lockdown. The airlines were authorised to run at a restricted capacity of their regular schedule, which was systematically increased depending on the health scenario and passenger footfall at airports.

Scheduled domestic flight operations were restored to full 100% capacity on October 18, 2021. 

India resumes quarantine-free entry of foreign travellers from 99 countries

Meanwhile, India on Monday resumed quarantine-free entry for foreign travellers from 99 countries, which have agreed to mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates, almost 20 months after restrictions were imposed due to the Coronavirus.

Travellers from these 99 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, and Russia, which have been listed under "Category A", have to submit a self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal (newdelhiairport.in) before the scheduled travel, apart from uploading a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report, according to the revised Guidelines for International Arrivals released by the Union health ministry on November 11.

(With Inputs from PTI)

Image: PTI, Unsplash