new Delhi: In view of the steady decline in the cases of COVID-19, the government on Tuesday relaxed the COVID-19 rules related to air travel.
The civil aviation ministry said cabin crew members are not required to wear PPE kits, airlines are not required to keep three seats vacant on international flights for medical emergencies and that security personnel at air terminals can continue to search for passengers.
The latest decision of the ministry is to facilitate “smooth operation of air operations”, said the ministry’s March 21 order.
Aviation market in India is recovering after all this time omicron The edition suppressed demand in January. About 76.96 lakh domestic passengers traveled by air in February, which is almost 20% more than in January.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) in its order said that the limit of keeping three seats vacant on trips around the world to deal with the health related crises associated with COVID-19 expires.
“Airlines may carry some additional PPE protective gear, sanitizers and N-95 masks to control any respiratory infection related to cases in the air for the passengers as well as the crew,” the MoCA said.
It said it had permitted full domestic flight activities from October 18, 2021, and has now chosen to resume booked international flight operations from March 27, 2022, “declining COVID-19 cases, high levels of vaccination and in view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation”.
MoCA expressed that the requirement of a complete PPE unit for the part of the team has been done away with.
“However, use of face masks and maintenance of hand hygiene/sanitisers is mandatory,” it added.
As per the instructions of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the searches by the security staff at the airport terminals are once again resumed, wherever necessary, noted the MoCA.
“During this process, security personnel should wear N-95 masks and sanitize hands after each pat-down search, in addition to following the COVID-19 protocol on a regular basis,” it noted.
India reported a single-day increase of 1,581 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of the disease to 4,30,10,971, while the active cases declined to 23,913, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry’s figures were updated at 8 am, taking the loss of life to 5,16,543 with 33 daily fatalities.
(with PTI inputs)