No Meals On Domestic Flights Under 2 Hours To Cut Covid Risk: Centre

There will be no meals on domestic flights under two hours to minimise the risk of COVID-19 infections starting Thursday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday.

Battling a ferocious second wave of infections, India is undergoing its worst phase of the coronavirus and overtook Brazil on Monday for the second spot in the tally of nations with the highest cases.

Issuing a set of new rules for flights, the ministry on Monday said, airlines can serve pre-packaged meals with disposable cutlery and plates on flights longer than two hours.

"Crew shall wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/beverage service... the servicing of in-flight meals to be staggered among the adjacent seats as far as possible," it said.

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 has decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights considering "the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants".

All three new coronavirus variants of the UK, South Africa and Brazil demonstrated increased transmissibility, as reported by the World Health Organization, it said.

India recorded 1,68,912 new infections on Monday, pushing active cases past the 12-lakh mark, while the number of deaths 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.