Commercial flights to resume ops, cabin crew to get protective gear
New Delhi, May 15: The Central government has started work to prepare for resumption of commercial domestic flights, something that may happen in a staggered manner over the next one month, senior government and industry officials said. To this effect, government agencies have began laying the groundwork in terms of safety and policy measures required to start flight operations.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security issued a circular Wednesday doing away with security personnel stamping boarding passes of flight passengers at airports. “In view of the prevailing situation of COVID-19 pandemic and countermeasures being taken to contain its spread by touch/contact, it has been decided to dispense with the procedure of stamping the passengers’ Boarding Pass…after completion of pre-embarkation security check of the concerned passenger, till further orders,” the circular said.
Additionally, the government has also circulated a set of draft standard operating procedures with various stakeholders including airlines, airports and ground handling companies seeking their views on measures for ensuring social distancing and health safety of passengers and staff. These include downloading of Aarogya Setu app, increasing of passenger reporting time at airports, mandatory web check-in, among other such procedures.
“…suggestions were sought on a draft discussion paper from airlines and airports. The suggestions have now been received. The final SOP is yet to be issued,” a government spokesperson for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, said.
A senior official said that while the civil aviation ministry was awaiting a nod from Ministry of Home Affairs before allowing airlines to take bookings for scheduled commercial flights, the Centre was also in discussions with various state governments considering it was important for states to be on board with the plan.
“Initially, nod for flights may be given for some of the green zone districts but most of the major traffic centres are still in red or orange zones, and for that it is essential that we have state governments on board,” the official said.
The official also alluded to the possibility that initially it may just be Air India that will be allowed to start domestic repatriation flights on the lines of the international Vande Bharat mission. In the second phase of this mission, Air India will fly around 30,000 passengers from 31 countries. Some of the flights under this mission also connect airports within the country such as Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Bengaluru, Mumbai-Kochi, etc. However, these flights are only for passengers arriving from international stations and bookings have not been opened for domestic passengers.
Meanwhile, cabin crew members of Indian airlines will have personal protective equipment (PPE) like face shields, gowns and masks as part of their attire on commercial passenger flights when they resume operations, industry sources said.
India is under a lockdown since March 25 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and all scheduled commercial passenger flights remain suspended.
Airlines such as IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India have decided to go with the new attire to ensure safety of cabin crew members as they are in close proximity to passengers during flights, the sources said.
This would be similar to the attire unveiled by Philippines AirAsia for its cabin crew on April 27. The attire comprise a red-coloured full body suit consisting of a face shield and a face mask.
“While AirAsia India will have face shields, masks, gowns, aprons and gloves as a part of their PPE attire for cabin crew members, Vistara would have a lap gown, face mask and face shield as the new dress code,” a source said.
Once commercial flights resume, each IndiGo’s crew member will have to wear a surgical mask, gloves, face shields along with a gown or a body suit, the sources said.
Air India, which is currently conducting repatriation flights under the Vande Bharat Mission to bring stranded Indians home from abroad, will have its crew members wear a body suit, gloves, face shield and face mask even in scheduled commercial passenger flights, whenever they restart, the sources said.
The virus has infected more than 78,000 persons and killed more than 2,500 in India.
Earlier this month, the Civil Aviation Ministry asked Indian airlines and airports to give their comments on a draft Standard Operating Procedure regarding the post-lockdown commercial flight operations.
On May 12, the ministry said on Twitter that it has received comments from the stakeholders and is yet to issue the final SOP. (with PTI inputs)
