COVID-19: No cabin baggage, ID checks, moots Centre to re-start air travel

Air travel is likely to change post-lockdown with the government suggesting to airlines and airports to do away with cabin baggage and identity card checks to avoid crowding.

Also, air travellers will have to complete web check-in and report at the airport two hours before the departure of the flight.

The draft standard operating procedures (SOP) for the resumption of air travel, circulated to airlines and airport operators, also bans those above 80 years from travel in the first phase of resumption of flights.

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“...suggestions were sought on a draft discussion paper from airlines and airports. The suggestions have now been received. The final SOP is yet to be issued,” a civil aviation ministry spokesman said.

Passengers will have to undergo temperature checks at the departure and arrival gates and also have green status on Aarogya Setu app, which has been made mandatory for rail as well as air travel.

A PTI report said the draft SOP also mooted rostering the same set of cabin and cockpit crew as long as possible in order to prevent cross-contamination.

India had suspended international commercial passenger flights on March 22 and followed it up with a ban on domestic flights from March 24 as part of measures to arrest the spread of Covid-19. The ban was extended to the end of the nationwide lockdown on May 17.

Meanwhile, airports across the country have been preparing for the resumption of flights by putting in additional measures to ensure physical distancing among travellers and utilising technology for disinfection of luggage and trolleys to ensure safe transit.

Some of India’s busiest airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad have already rolled out plans to ensure social distancing at the airport by deploying additional queue managers at kerbside, check-in halls, security check areas and boarding gates, with social distancing markers.