COVID-19: Don’t serve meals on flights under 2 hours, airlines told

KEY STORY

• Airlines are not permitted to serve meals in flights that have a duration of less than two hours, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday, as Coronavirus continue to soar in the country.

• The ban will come into effect from Thursday, the ministry said in its order.

• When scheduled domestic flights were resumed on May 25 after coronavirus lockdown last year, the ministry had allowed the airlines to serve in-flight meals under certain conditions.

• Modifying the previous order, the ministry’s fresh directive said: “The airlines, operating flights on domestic sectors, may provide meals services on board, where the in-flight duration is two hours or more.”

• The ministry stated it has decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights considering “the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants”.

• Airlines are not permitted to serve meals in domestic flights that have a duration of less than two hours, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday, as coronavirus cases continue to spiral across the country.

• The ban will come into effect from Thursday, the ministry said in its order.

• When scheduled domestic flights were resumed on May 25 after coronavirus lockdown last year, the ministry had allowed the airlines to serve in-flight meals under certain conditions.

• Modifying the previous order, the ministry’s fresh directive said: “The airlines, operating flights on domestic sectors, may provide meals services on board, where the in-flight duration is two hours or more.”

• The ministry said it decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights due to the “the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants”.

• Airlines are permitted to serve only pre-packed snacks, meals and pre-packed beverages on flights that have a duration of more than two hours,.

• The servicing of in-flight meals must be staggered “among the adjacent seats as far as possible”, it added.

• The ministry said all three coronavirus variants of the UK, South Africa and Brazil demonstrated increased transmissibility, as reported by the World Health Organization.

• India has surpassed Brazil to record the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases at 1,35,27,717, as a record 1,68,912 new infections were reported on Monday.

CONCLUSION

• The active cases have surpassed the 12-lakh mark, while the toll increased to 1,70,179 with 904 more deaths, the highest since October 18.

• Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• However, special international passenger flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since last May and under bilateral air-bubble arrangements formed with 28 countries since July.