Flying rules relaxed in India to resume smooth conduct of air operations

As the airline industry operations in India slowly goes back to the pre-pandemic times, The Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to relax some of the COVID 19 related flying regulations.

The Ministry has decided to do away with the rule of keeping three vacant seats on international flights for medical emergencies.

The Ministry has also decided to resume pat-down searches of passengers by security personnel at airports. Moreover, cabin crew members are not required to wear PPE kits any longer.

The aviation industry in the country was deeply affected by the pandemic, more recently, the Omicron variant of the virus. February saw a 20 percent rise in passenger travel by air, a total of 76.96 lakh domestic passengers, in comparison to January, 2022.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has taken the decision to relax these flying rules so as to resume smooth conduct of air operations in the country. Scheduled international flight operations are all set to resume from March 27, 2022.

The Ministry noted, “Airlines may carry a few additional PPE protective gears, sanitiser and N-95 masks, to handle any respiratory infections related to cases on air, for passengers as well as the crew.”

However, it is still mandatory to wear face masks, and use sanitizers for hand hygiene. Security personell who are going to do the pat-down searches, are required to wear N-95 masks, and use hand sanitizers after each pat down.