In a move to cut Covid-19 spread in India, the Civil Aviation Ministry on Monday has decided to offer no meals during on domestic flights under two hours. The order will come into effect from Thursday onwards.
India is witnessing the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, which is even detrimental than before, and on Monday has crossed Brazil for the second spot in reporting the highest number of cases among the worst-hit nations.
The Civil Aviation Ministry on Monday has issued a set of norms for flights and has directed them to not offer food for the journey of two hours. However, pre-packed meals will be offered to the passengers with disposable cutlery and plates o flights which would fly for over 2 hours.
"The airlines, operating flights on domestic sectors, may provide meals services on board, where the in-flight duration is two hours or more," a directive issued by the Ministry said.
"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 added.
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Earlier in 2020, when the restrictions on domestic flights were lifted by the Ministry on May 25, it had permitted the airlines to serve in-flight meals by abiding by certain conditions.
The decision has come in lieu of the increasing infection cases and its variants which possess a potential threat. Presently, only domestic flights are taking off and the scheduled international flights stand suspended in the nation since March 23, 2020.
Since May 2020, only special international passenger flights are operating under the Vande Bharat Mission along with a bilateral air-bubble agreement with 28 countries since July.
India on Monday had reported 1,68,912 new Covid cases which pushed the active caseload across the 12-lakh mark. The number of fatalities has also seen an upsurge to1,70,179 with 904 more deaths, the highest since October 18.